A yard of #57 stone weighs 2,600 lbs. A Toyota Tacoma payload: 1,685 lbs. You can fit 1.2 cubic yards in the bed. You can safely carry 0.6 cubic yards by weight. One full yard does not fit.

This gap between volume capacity and weight capacity is the mistake that cracks frames, blows tires, and gets trucks pulled over at DOT scales. Your truck bed holds 2 yards of space. Your axles handle less than 1 yard of stone.

This guide covers weight per cubic yard for 22 common materials, rated payload for 10 vehicle classes, and the math that connects them. Print the tables. Run the numbers before you load.

What Does a Yard of Material Weigh?

How much does a yard of gravel weigh? That depends on which material you mean. A yard of dry sand weighs 2,700 lbs. A yard of mulch weighs 600 lbs. The range across common construction and landscape materials spans 400 lbs to 3,400 lbs per cubic yard.

Aggregates

Organic Materials

Demolition Debris

Processed Fill

The takeaway: aggregates run 2,500 to 3,400 lbs per yard. Demo debris runs 2,000 to 3,200 lbs. Organic materials run 400 to 1,400 lbs. That 3x to 8x weight difference is why the same truck bed handles very different loads.

Moisture changes everything. Topsoil jumps 50% heavier after rain. Sand gains 15%. Crusher run swings from 2,500 lbs dry to 2,900 lbs wet. Wood chips double in weight when freshly chipped versus kiln-dried. If you loaded a material dry last week and plan to load it after a rainstorm, recalculate. The truck does not care what the material weighed on the spec sheet. It cares what the material weighs right now.

For a full breakdown of crushed stone sizes and grades, including weight per cubic yard by grade number, see our reference chart.

Volume Capacity vs. Weight Capacity: The Trap That Breaks Trucks

Every truck has two capacities. Volume: how many cubic yards fit in the bed. Payload: how many pounds the chassis, axles, tires, and brakes can handle. These two numbers almost never align.

Here is a visual way to think about it. A standard pickup bed is a box that holds about 2 cubic yards. Picture that box full of stone. Now picture that same box full of mulch. Both loads fill the same space. One weighs 5,200 lbs. The other weighs 1,200 lbs. Same volume, wildly different weight. The truck does not care how full the bed looks. It cares how much the load weighs.

Heavy Material Example: F-150 + #57 Stone

An F-150 with a 6.5-foot bed holds about 2 cubic yards level (62 cubic feet of interior volume, minus wheel well intrusion). #57 stone weighs 2,600 lbs per yard.

• 2.0 cubic yards x 2,600 lbs = 5,200 lbs
• F-150 payload (XLT, 2025): 1,800 lbs
• Over by 3,400 lbs at a full bed

Fill that bed to the rails with stone and you are carrying nearly triple the rated payload. The suspension compresses. The rear bumper drops toward the tires. Braking distance doubles and steering gets loose.

The safe amount: 0.7 cubic yards. About a third of the bed.

Light Material Example: F-150 + Mulch

Same truck, different material. Mulch weighs 600 lbs per yard.

• 2.0 cubic yards x 600 lbs = 1,200 lbs
• F-150 payload: 1,800 lbs
• Under payload by 600 lbs

The bed is full but the truck barely notices. Volume limits you before weight does.

The rule: Light materials fill your bed. Heavy materials break your axles. Always check BOTH numbers.

The Quick Math

For any material and any vehicle, the safe load is whichever number is lower:

Safe cubic yards = LOWER of (bed volume) or (payload lbs / material weight per yd)

Example: F-250 with 2.0 yd bed and 4,000 lb payload hauling #57 stone at 2,600 lbs/yd.

• Volume limit: 2.0 yd
• Weight limit: 4,000 / 2,600 = 1.5 yd
• Safe load: 1.5 yd (weight is the bottleneck)

Same truck hauling mulch at 600 lbs/yd:

• Volume limit: 2.0 yd
• Weight limit: 4,000 / 600 = 6.7 yd
• Safe load: 2.0 yd (volume is the bottleneck)

Run this formula for every load. It takes 10 seconds and prevents a $5,000 repair bill.

How Much Can Your Truck Actually Carry?

Ten vehicle classes from a half-ton pickup to a tri-axle dump. Bed volume, rated payload, and max safe cubic yards of three reference materials: #57 stone (heavy), mulch (light), and dry topsoil (medium).

Every pickup is weight-limited on stone. You hit payload before you fill the bed. Even the F-350 DRW (2.5 yd bed, 2.1 yd safe stone) leaves nearly half a yard of empty bed at max weight. Dump trailers are the first vehicles where volume and weight roughly balance on heavy aggregate.

Every pickup is volume-limited on mulch. Payload is not the problem. Bed size is.

Note: Subtract 300 to 500 lbs from rated payload for driver weight, toolbox, hitch, and gear. A 1,800-lb F-150 payload becomes 1,300 to 1,500 lbs in the real world. That drops your safe stone load from 0.7 to 0.5 cubic yards.

How to find your truck’s payload. Open the driver door and look for the yellow and white tire and loading information sticker. It lists the maximum combined weight of occupants and cargo. That is your payload. Not the towing sticker. Not the GVWR plate on the door jamb (GVWR minus curb weight equals payload, but the sticker does the math for you). Every truck off the assembly line gets a unique payload number based on its specific options, cab size, and engine.

Payload varies by configuration. The F-250 XLT ranges from 3,546 to 4,240 lbs depending on engine and drivetrain. The 4,000 lbs shown above represents the gas V8 crew cab. Your specific truck may differ by 500 lbs or more. Check the door sticker.

Dump truck capacities match standard industry ranges: single-axle 6 to 8 tons, tandem 15 to 18 tons, tri-axle 20 to 24 tons. See the delivery logistics section in our crushed stone calculator for delivery fee math.

How Many Yards Can You Haul?

The tables above show three materials. Below are all 22 materials in four hauling groups with the safe maximum cubic yards per vehicle. Every value accounts for both volume and payload limits. Rounded to nearest 0.1 yd.

Aggregates (Highest Overload Risk)

Every pickup in this table is weight-limited. You hit payload before you fill the bed on any aggregate material.

Organic Materials (Volume-Limited)

Mulch, chips, and compost are volume-limited on every vehicle. The bed fills before payload matters. Three exceptions: stumps, wet topsoil, and compost in a Tacoma. Stumps with root balls weigh as much as dry topsoil (2,000 lbs/yd) and weight-limit pickups the same way stone does. Wet topsoil after rain behaves like aggregate. Check your material and the forecast before you load.

Demolition Debris

Brick is the heaviest common demo material at 3,000 lbs per yard. An F-150 carries 0.6 cubic yards of brick, barely enough to cover the bed floor. Concrete rubble is lighter than most people expect because the broken pieces leave air voids (solid concrete weighs 4,050 lbs/yd; rubble runs 2,000 to 2,500). Every demo material except mixed C&D weight-limits pickups.

Processed Fill

How Many Trips Does Your Job Take?

Three common scenarios with trip counts and costs.

Scenario A: 10 Cubic Yards of #57 Stone for a Driveway

F-350 DRW: 10 / 2.1 = 5 trips. At 30 minutes per round trip to the quarry, that is 2.5 hours of driving plus loading time.

Medium dump trailer: 10 / 3.8 = 3 trips. You need a 3/4-ton or 1-ton truck to tow a loaded medium dump trailer carrying 9,880 lbs of stone.

Tandem dump truck delivery: 10 yards at 1.30 tons per yard = 13 tons. One tandem load at $150 to $250 delivery fee. Done in one trip.

The delivery math usually wins. Five round trips in a pickup at 15 miles each way = 150 miles. At $0.70/mile (IRS rate), that is $105 in mileage alone. Add 4 hours of labor at $35/hr and you spent $245 in time and fuel. One $200 dump truck delivery saves money and frees you to work the job. For full tonnage calculations, see our crushed stone calculator.

Scenario B: 15 Cubic Yards of Mulch for a Landscape Project

Medium dump trailer: 15 / 5.0 = 3 trips. Mulch is volume-limited, so 5 cubic yards fills the trailer at only 3,000 lbs. Light towing. Any half-ton truck handles this load. The bottleneck is trailer size, not truck capability.

F-150: 15 / 2.0 = 8 trips. Possible but painful. At 20 minutes per round trip, that is nearly 3 hours of driving. Rent a dump trailer for $150/day and cut it to 3 trips.

Bulk delivery: Many mulch suppliers deliver 10 to 15 cubic yards in a single dump truck load for $75 to $150. Cheaper than a trailer rental if you do not already own one.

Scenario C: 50 Tons of Concrete Debris from a Demo Job

Tandem dump truck: 50 tons at 15 tons per load (conservative) = 4 loads. At $150 to $250 per haul, trucking runs $600 to $1,000.

Add tipping fees at the receiving facility: $35 to $55 per ton in most Southeast markets. That is 50 tons x $45 average = $2,250 in disposal alone. Total haul-and-dump cost: $2,850 to $3,250.

That $2,850 to $3,250 disappears if you crush the concrete on-site and reuse it as base aggregate. More on that in Section 8 below.

Our tonnage estimation guide has formulas for sizing demo jobs before the first hammer swing. Ordering stone? The crushed stone calculator covers waste factors, and our crusher run guide covers settlement: order 15 to 25% more than the math says.

When to Self-Haul vs. Hire Delivery

Self-hauling makes sense in three situations. First: you already own a dump trailer and the supply yard is under 10 miles away. Second: you only need 1 to 2 cubic yards of light material like mulch or topsoil that fits in your pickup. Third: you need material at odd hours when delivery is not available.

Hire delivery for everything else. On any job over 5 cubic yards of aggregate, the delivery fee is cheaper than your fuel, time, and vehicle wear. On any job over 10 yards, it is not even close. A tandem dump truck delivers 12 yards of stone in one trip for $150 to $250. That same 12 yards would take 6 trips in an F-350 DRW at 2.1 yards per trip.

The break-even point for most contractors: about 3 cubic yards of heavy material. Below that, self-haul. Above that, call the truck.

What Happens When You Overload

Overloading is not a “maybe it will be fine” situation. Every supply yard in the country sees trucks leave overloaded every day. The guy at the loader asks how much you want. You say “fill it up.” He fills it up. Nobody runs the payload math. Here are the four categories of consequences.

Safety

• Blown tires. Tire load ratings are absolute. An OEM truck tire on a Tacoma is rated for roughly 2,500 to 2,700 lbs per tire depending on size and load index. Exceed the rating and the tire overheats and fails at highway speed.
• Brake fade. Braking distance increases in direct proportion to load. Double the payload, double the stopping distance. Downhill with stone and faded brakes is how wrecks happen.
• Suspension failure. Leaf springs crack. Shocks bottom out. The rear axle contacts the bump stops and stays there. Steering goes vague because the front tires are unloaded.

Legal

• DOT fines. Overweight citations range from $100 to $500+ per 1,000 lbs over in most states.
• CDL threshold. A combined GVWR over 26,001 lbs means you need a CDL. A 3/4-ton truck (10,000 lb GVWR) plus a loaded medium dump trailer (14,000 lb GVWR) = 24,000 lbs. Add 2,001 lbs of overload and you crossed a legal line.
• Insurance void. Exceeding rated GVWR can void your vehicle insurance. Wreck while overloaded and your insurer denies the claim. Liability coverage may also be affected. If you injure someone while operating an overloaded vehicle, your personal assets are exposed.

Vehicle Damage

Warped frames, cracked leaf springs, premature drivetrain wear, bent axle housings, and transmission overheating. A leaf spring replacement on an F-250 runs $800 to $1,500 in parts and labor. A warped frame is a total loss on most trucks. One overloaded trip often costs more in repairs than two proper trips would have cost in time and fuel.

The visual test: If the rear bumper sits level with the tires, you are over. Step out and look before you leave the yard.

For federal weight limits on public roads, see the FHWA bridge formula and weight limits.

The Real Answer: Process Material On-Site

Every trip calculation in this guide assumes you are hauling material from point A to point B. The alternative: bring the processing equipment to the material and skip hauling entirely.

Concrete debris: A portable jaw crusher turns 50 tons of broken concrete into reusable base aggregate on the same site. Zero haul trips. Zero tipping fees. Zero payload math. The crusher does the work where the material sits. On-site crushing costs $5 to $12 per ton. Hauling to a landfill costs $35 to $55 per ton in tipping fees plus $150 to $250 per truckload in trucking. On a 50-ton job, that is $250 to $600 for crushing versus $2,850 to $3,250 for hauling. See our guide to on-site concrete crushing for the full process and cost breakdown.

Raw topsoil and fill: A trommel screen separates clean topsoil from rocks, roots, and debris on-site. No trucking raw material to a processing yard and back. A CZ Screen M412 MIDI processes 30 to 50 cubic yards per hour. Feed in rough fill, get back clean topsoil off one belt and rock off the other. Screen it on your lot and stockpile the finished product. Screened topsoil sells for $25 to $45 per yard at landscape supply yards. Unscreened fill is worth $5 to $10. The screen turns a low-value pile into a sellable product.

Mixed aggregates: A vibratory screener sorts stockpiled material into graded products. Clean stone off one belt, fines off another, oversize off the third. Three products from one feed. No trips to three different suppliers. No loading, hauling, or unloading at each stop.

GrinderCrusherScreen has connected contractors with portable crushing and screening equipment since 1973. We do not own or operate machinery. We match you with the right equipment for your job. Call 770-433-2670 or visit the concrete crusher rental, trommel screen rental, or screener rental pages for pricing.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a yard of gravel weigh?

A cubic yard of natural washed gravel weighs about 2,800 lbs (1.40 tons). Crushed stone (#57) weighs about 2,600 lbs per yard (1.30 tons). Crusher run weighs 2,500 to 2,900 lbs per yard depending on moisture content.

The term “gravel” covers different products at different supply yards. Natural gravel (rounded river stone) is slightly heavier than crushed stone because the smooth particles pack tighter with fewer air voids. Always confirm the exact weight with your supplier, since source rock and gradation affect density.

Can I haul a yard of gravel in a pickup truck?

It depends on the material and the truck. A Ford F-150 has a payload of about 1,800 lbs and a 6.5-foot bed that holds roughly 2 cubic yards. One cubic yard of #57 stone weighs 2,600 lbs. That is 800 lbs over the rated payload. You cannot safely carry a full yard of stone in an F-150.

You can carry 0.7 cubic yards of stone, or a full bed of mulch (1,200 lbs), within the payload rating. An F-250 with a 4,000-lb payload handles about 1.5 cubic yards of stone. An F-350 DRW with a 5,500-lb payload handles 2.1 cubic yards. Check the payload sticker on your driver door jamb and do the weight math before you load.

How much does a yard of mulch weigh?

Natural bark mulch weighs 400 to 600 lbs per cubic yard. Colored mulch runs slightly heavier at 500 to 700 lbs because the dye and added moisture increase density. Fresh wood chips weigh 600 to 1,000 lbs per yard depending on species and moisture content.

Mulch is always volume-limited in pickup trucks. The bed fills long before you approach the payload limit. A standard F-150 bed holds about 2 cubic yards of mulch at roughly 1,200 lbs total, well under the 1,800-lb payload. If you need more than 2 cubic yards of mulch, a dump trailer or bulk delivery is the practical move.

What is the difference between payload and towing capacity?

Payload is the total weight you put IN and ON the truck. That includes bed cargo, passengers, toolboxes, and hitch weight from a trailer. Towing capacity is the total weight the truck can pull BEHIND it. They are separate ratings and both have limits.

Loading stone in the bed uses payload. Pulling a loaded dump trailer uses towing capacity AND payload, since tongue weight counts against your payload number. You must stay under both ratings at the same time.

A common mistake: a contractor with a 10,000-lb towing capacity thinks he can tow a 10,000-lb loaded trailer. But the 800-lb tongue weight of that trailer counts against his 1,800-lb payload. Add a driver and toolbox and he is already close to payload limit before the bed is loaded. The payload rating is on the yellow sticker on the driver door jamb. Towing capacity is in the owner’s manual.

How many yards of dirt can a dump truck carry?

A single-axle dump truck carries about 5 cubic yards (5 to 7 tons of dirt). A tandem carries about 12 cubic yards (12 to 16 tons). A tri-axle carries about 16 cubic yards (16 to 22 tons).

Dirt weight varies by type: clean fill dirt runs about 2,200 to 2,600 lbs per yard, while wet clay runs 2,800 to 3,200 lbs per yard. Always ask if the dirt has been sitting in rain. A stockpile that started at 2,400 lbs per yard can hit 3,000 lbs after a week of storms.

Dump trucks are sized so that volume and payload roughly balance for most materials. Unlike pickups, dump trucks rarely face the volume vs. weight trap because both capacities are built for heavy loads.

You have 500 tons of wood waste from a land clearing job. Three options sit in front of you: a horizontal grinder, a tub grinder, or an air curtain burner. Each machine carries a different purchase price, a different operating cost per hour, and a different revenue ceiling.

Most equipment comparisons stop at sticker price. This one does not.

We are going deep: carbide tip costs that spiked 5x in 18 months because of Chinese export controls. The $25,000 clutch replacement you did not budget for. The tramp metal incident that shut your grinder down for three weeks.

And on the burner side: the ash you can blend into premium topsoil and sell at $45 to $60 per yard. Real numbers. Real math. Every claim backed by a source.

What Each Machine Does

Before the cost comparison, a quick mechanical overview.

Horizontal grinder: A feed conveyor pushes material into a hammermill spinning at 1,800 to 2,600 RPM. Material passes through sizing screens that control chip dimensions. The output: consistent chips and mulch. Best for producing sellable landscape mulch, biomass fuel, and colored mulch feedstock. Handles logs and long material well. View horizontal grinders.

Tub grinder: An open tub rotates over a hammermill. Gravity feeds the material down. Handles stumps, root balls, and mixed brush that would jam a horizontal grinder’s feed conveyor. Primary size reduction. Less consistent output quality. View tub grinders.

Air curtain burner: A high-velocity air curtain blankets the top of a burn chamber. Wood burns at 1,800+ degrees F with near-complete combustion. Volume drops 95% to 98%. Output: ash and heat. View air burners.

The key distinction: grinders CREATE a product. Burners ELIMINATE the material. But “eliminating” does not mean zero value. Section 10 covers ash-to-topsoil revenue that most comparisons miss entirely.

Purchase Price Comparison

Capital cost is the first number every buyer looks at. Here is where the three machines land:

A mid-size production grinder costs 2x to 5x more than a production-class air burner. Used grinder pricing sourced from Purple Wave and MachineryTrader auction closes. New air burner pricing reflects Merris WX-5 ($137,500) and WX-8 ($166,500). GCS sells Merris air burners new and carries used grinders through brokerage.

The purchase price gap is large, but it is only the starting point. Operating cost is where the gap widens further.

Operating Cost Per Hour: The Real Gap

This is where most buyers get surprised. Side-by-side hourly cost breakdown for machines in the same horsepower class.

Horizontal Grinder (800 HP class, $350K purchase):

Tub Grinder (similar HP):

Similar fuel and labor costs. Higher maintenance frequency. Less consistent output quality.

All-in: roughly $260 to $300 per hour. Operator forums call tub grinders “maintenance pigs” for a reason.

Air Curtain Burner (Merris WX-8 class):

The gap: grinders cost 3x to 4x more per hour to operate than air burners. A grinder burns through 25 gallons of diesel per hour at typical operating load (60 to 70% of rated horsepower). Heavy loading on hardwood or contaminated material can push consumption to 35+ gallons per hour. An air burner uses 2.5. That fuel cost alone is a $90 to $130 per hour difference.

Over a 1,000-hour operating year, the fuel difference alone is $90,000. Add wear parts, maintenance overhead, and the mechanic you need on the grinder side, and the annual gap grows to $316,000 (see Section 11 for the full breakdown). That gap is widening because of what is happening to carbide prices.

Source: BioCycle horizontal grinder machine rate model ($148.91/hr), Machinery Partner air burner ROI data, Air Burners Inc.

What 5,000 Tons Takes: Running Cost by the Hour

The all-in hourly rates above include equipment depreciation. Strip that out and look at what you actually spend each hour the engine runs. That is your variable running cost. Separate it from fixed overhead (what you pay every month whether the machine runs or not).

Why this matters: the running cost per hour is closer than you think. The fixed overhead is not.

Variable running cost per operating hour:

The grinder costs 2.8x more per running hour. But it processes material 8x faster. Speed has a price. So does slowness.

How many hours for 5,000 tons?

The grinder finishes in 19 days. The WX-8 takes 70 days. The WX-5 takes 139 days.

The grinder handles only 4,000 of those 5,000 tons. Stumps, root balls, and contaminated debris (the remaining 20%) cannot go through a grinder. They go to a landfill or a burner. The air burner handles all 5,000 tons. Nothing gets rejected.

Labor cost for 5,000 tons (the line item most comparisons skip):

• Grinder crew: 148 on-site hours x $70/hr = $10,360
• WX-8 operator: 556 hours x $35/hr = $19,460
• WX-5 operator: 1,111 hours x $35/hr = $38,885

The burner’s labor bill runs 2x to 4x higher because the operator is on site 3x to 7x longer. Every hour of slower throughput costs $35 in operator wages. But one person runs the entire operation.

Total variable cost for 5,000 tons:

The grinder processes its 4,000 tons for $22,998 in running cost. That is cheaper than the WX-8’s $27,800 on variable costs alone. But the gap is only $4,802. And the 1,000 tons of stumps the grinder cannot handle cost $55,800 to haul to a landfill. That stump disposal bill flips the math.

The WX-8 burner processes all 5,000 tons for $27,800. The grinder plus landfill disposal: $78,798.

The real gap: fixed overhead.

Variable costs tell you what each operating hour costs. Fixed costs hit every month whether the machine runs or not.

Fixed overhead gap: $153,100 per year. That mechanic salary, service truck, and tramp metal budget exist at 5,000 tons, 10,000 tons, or 500 tons.

The insight: The variable running cost gap on a 5,000-ton job is $50,998 (burner wins). The fixed overhead gap is $153,100 (burner wins by 4x). It is the overhead, not the hourly rate, that makes the grinder uneconomical at this volume. The mechanic you have to employ costs more than all the fuel, tips, and labor combined.

When labor is your bottleneck: The burner ties up 1 operator for 70 days (WX-8) or 139 days (WX-5). If you have limited crew and other jobs waiting, that time cost is real. But that one person loads and monitors the burn while handling other site tasks between feeding cycles. The grinder demands two dedicated operators at the machine for all 19 days.

When speed is your constraint: If the job contract requires material gone in 30 days or less, the grinder wins on time. But you pay $212 per hour for that speed vs. $50.

Source: BioCycle machine rate model, Machinery Partner, Air Burners Inc, Indeed/ZipRecruiter Georgia salary data.

The Carbide Crisis: Why Grinder Costs Are Spiking

Every grinder runs on tungsten carbide. The hammers, tips, and inserts that contact wood are tipped or faced with tungsten carbide. When those tips wear out, you replace them. And right now, replacing them is getting expensive fast.

Tip inventory and pricing: A Vermeer HG6000 (765 HP) carries 20 carbide tips. A Morbark 3800 (800 HP) carries 18 double-edged inserts. Aftermarket Kennametal-brand tips from EarthSaver Parts run $36 to $49 each. Premium ripper-style tips hit $94 each. OEM pricing runs higher but manufacturers do not publish retail numbers.

How fast do tips wear out? Vermeer states operators grinding consistently “will likely be wearing through cutter tips on a weekly basis.” Forum operators report 10 to 40 hours per tip (both edges) on clean wood. In contaminated material with dirt, rocks, or construction debris, tips can be destroyed in 4 hours. Every tip is dual-sided: flip once, then replace.

The supply crisis: China controls 80%+ of global tungsten production. In January 2026, China activated export controls through the “2026 Catalogue of Dual-Use Items.” Chinese tungsten exports contracted roughly 40% year over year. US tariffs escalated to 84%. China retaliated at 125%.

Price timeline (sourced from Fastmarkets and Meetyou Carbide):

Tungsten carbide powder jumped from roughly $46 per kilogram in early 2024 to roughly $242 per kilogram by February 2026. A 5.3x increase in raw material cost.

Has it hit retail tip prices yet? Not fully. Sandvik, the world’s largest carbide tool manufacturer, announced a 22% price increase in Q2 2025 and called it “still insufficient.” EarthSaver Parts’ current listed prices ($36 to $49 per tip) appear to reflect pre-surge inventory. When that inventory clears, tip prices are projected to rise 50%+ based on downstream cost pass-through documented in mining and industrial wear parts. Mining sector wear parts procurement costs are already up 68% year over year.

Annual tip cost at current aftermarket pricing (clean wood, 1,000 operating hours):

A 20-tip machine cycling through roughly 17 full tip changes per year: $15,000 to $20,000 per year. This is a subset of BioCycle’s $18.32/hr total maintenance figure ($19,053 per year for ALL maintenance).

In contaminated material: 2x to 3x higher. Post-surge pricing could push tip costs 50% to 100% higher once current inventory is gone.

Air burner comparison: Zero carbide. Zero tungsten exposure. The WX-8’s primary wear surfaces are ceramic panels that degrade gradually over thousands of operating hours.

Source: Fastmarkets, EarthSaver Parts, Vermeer Pro Tips, Meetyou Carbide, Heavy Equipment Forums.

Tramp Metal: The Risk Grinders Cannot Avoid

Land clearing and C&D wood waste contains embedded metal. Nails, wire ties, rebar stubs, brackets, joist hangers, hurricane straps, cable.

EPA data shows 4.3 million tons of steel in US demolition debris annually.

As Pallet Enterprise puts it: “It is not so much a question of if but when and how often.”

The damage cascade: A rotor spinning at 1,800 to 2,600 RPM hits hardened steel. Carbide tips shatter ($30 to $70 each, full set gone). Screens punch through ($1,250 to $1,375 per panel). Wire wraps around the shaft and seizes bearings.

Sparks ignite wood dust in the discharge stream. One Ontario facility, Gro-Bark, lost close to $1 million from a fire caused by hot metal wrapping a bearing. BioCycle documented the incident in their fire prevention research.

Cost by severity:

Magnet protection: Cross-belt magnetic separators cost $5,000 to $25,000. They catch larger ferrous objects but small fasteners and non-ferrous metals still slip through. A magnet reduces the frequency of incidents. It does not eliminate them.

Air burner comparison: Metal does not burn. Steel melts at 2,500+ degrees F, well above the 1,800 to 2,000 degrees F combustion temperature of an air curtain burner. Nails, rebar, wire, brackets, and hardware fall to the bottom of the ash bed. After the burn cycle, a simple magnet sweep collects all ferrous metal from a small ash pile. Zero damage risk. Zero downtime. Air Burners Inc confirms their machines handle “pallets with nails, staples, and screws” without issue.

Source: Rotochopper, Vermeer Damage Defense, BioCycle fire prevention studies, Pallet Enterprise, Air Burners Inc.

The Maintenance Burden: Why Grinders Need a Full-Time Mechanic

This is the section most comparison articles skip. A grinder is a high-wear machine that demands constant attention. Here is what the maintenance schedule looks like in practice.

Daily (before you grind a single log):

• Walk-around inspection (leaks, loose bolts, belt tension)
• Clean radiator debris screen
• Blow dust from bearing pockets
• Check coolant level, hydraulic fluid, and belt condition
• Inspect cutting head and all carbide tips

Every 4 operating hours: Inspect and flip or replace carbide tips. On contaminated material, this could mean stopping twice per shift.

Weekly: Full tip replacement (40 to 50 complete changes per year at 1,000 operating hours). A full tip change takes 1 to 2 hours with two people.

What operators actually say: From Heavy Equipment Forums: “Plan on owning a service truck along with your grinder. You will want the compressor on it for working with cutters, the crane for when you inevitably need to replace the clutch, and something always needs welding on a grinder.”

Another operator: “We figure on 1 hour of downtime minimum per 8 hour day.” That is a 12.5% downtime ratio built into every shift.

The mechanic cost (Georgia):

Mechanic salary sourced from Indeed and ZipRecruiter for Georgia heavy equipment mechanics ($56K to $66K base, $70K to $88K loaded with benefits).

Tub grinders are worse. Direct operator quotes from Heavy Equipment Forums: “Tub grinders are expensive pigs to own and operate. You are repairing them regularly.” And: “The thing burned fuel like a fighter plane and had the maintenance requirements of one, too.”

Air burner comparison: Few moving parts. A fan motor, a diesel engine, an optional feed conveyor. No hammers. No screens. No clutch. No rotor bearings.

Primary wear surface: 4-inch ceramic panels that degrade gradually over thousands of operating hours. No dedicated mechanic needed. No service truck. Daily maintenance is a walk-around and a fluid check.

The Merris WX-5 and WX-8 carry a 12-month/1,000-hour warranty on all major components. When something does break, the repair parts list is short and the parts are cheap compared to carbide tips and grinder screens.

BioCycle machine rate: grinder at $148.91 per hour vs. air burner at roughly $10 per hour (Machinery Partner data). Monthly operating cost gap: $6,300+ per month.

Source: Heavy Equipment Forums, BioCycle, Machinery Partner, Waste Advantage Magazine, Indeed and ZipRecruiter salary data (Georgia).

Grind, Regrind, and Throughput Reality

Most cost comparisons assume you grind once and sell the output. That is not how it works in practice.

Two-pass grinding is the standard. Sellable landscape mulch is “double-ground” to a 2 to 2.5 inch particle size (ChromaScape Fiber Grinding 101, BioCycle). The process:

1. Primary grind: Raw debris through large screens (6 to 8 inch openings). Volume reduction. Rough product.

2. Stockpile.

3. Secondary grind (regrind): Pre-ground material through smaller screens (2 to 3 inch). This produces the consistent, sellable finish that landscape supply yards demand.

Your grinder runs TWICE per ton of finished product. Regrind passes faster than raw material, but every hour of regrind adds fuel, tip wear, and maintenance cost. The hourly rates from Section 4 apply to both passes.

Throughput reality:

• Grinders process 50 to 130+ tons per hour on first pass but cost $244 to $300 per hour all-in
• Air burners process 3 to 13 tons per hour but cost roughly $67 per hour all-in
• Cost per ton processed (grinder): $2 to $5 per ton on first pass. Factor in the regrind pass, hauling, storage, and sales labor and the effective cost per ton climbs well above that baseline
• Cost per ton processed (air burner): $10 to $13 per ton all-in (MDPI Forests peer-reviewed data, 2017). Material is gone. No regrind. No hauling. No storage yard.

The stump problem: 15% to 25% of land clearing debris is stumps and root balls. Stumps carry dirt and rocks embedded in the root system.

Tub grinders handle stumps (that is their strength), but the output is low-grade hog fuel, not premium mulch.

Horizontal grinders struggle with stumps entirely. Root-bound dirt accelerates tip wear by 2x to 3x compared to clean wood.

Either way, stump material must be separated from clean wood or it degrades the entire batch quality. You cannot sell “stump mulch” as landscape mulch. Most operators either burn their stumps, haul them to a landfill, or grind them separately and sell the output as low-value hog fuel at $5 to $15 per yard.

The third option nobody talks about: On many land clearing jobs, the real competitor to both grinders and burners is doing nothing. Pushing debris into a pile and paying $45 to $55 per ton in tipping fees to haul it to a C&D landfill. At 5,000 tons, that is $225,000 to $275,000 in disposal costs alone, before hauling. Both a grinder and an air burner save money compared to landfill disposal. The question is which one saves more.

Source: BioCycle, Vermeer Pro Tips, ChromaScape Fiber Grinding 101, EREF 2024 landfill tipping fee data.

The Revenue Side: What Can You Actually Sell Chips For?

The word that matters is “actually.” Retail mulch prices look attractive. Wholesale is a different story.

Southeast US Wood Chip Market (2025-2026), Wholesale vs Retail:

The wholesale gap is the killer. A landscape supply yard selling colored mulch at $42 per yard (Cummin Landscape Supply, Atlanta) is not paying you $42. They pay $20 to $30 wholesale and keep the margin. A grinder operator selling raw natural chips to a yard gets $12 to $18 per yard. Raw single-grind chips (arborist-quality) are sometimes given away free through services like ChipDrop.

Colored mulch: the margin play and the hidden capital

Colored mulch outsells natural 85:15 at retail. But getting into colored mulch production means stacking capital:

• Colorant cost: $3 to $4 per yard ongoing
• Colorizer equipment: $10,000 (tow-behind add-on) to $250,000+ (standalone production unit with conveyor and stacking)
• Selling direct: You must bypass the landscape supply yard and sell to contractors and homeowners yourself to capture the full $36 to $45 per yard
• Inventory management: Mulch degrades in storage. Color fades. You need to sell within the season.
• Bottom line: You need a yard, a colorizer, a sales operation, and customers before colored mulch revenue appears. The colorizer alone adds $10K to $250K on top of your grinder investment.

Biomass market warning: Southeast mill biomass sits at $24.50 per green ton and is declining (down 2% in Q1 2026, Forisk Wood Fiber Review). Hurricane Helene created a feedstock surplus. Major mill closures (GP Cedar Springs, IP Savannah, IP Riceboro) removed 4.6M+ tons of demand. Inflation-adjusted biomass value has dropped $10 per green ton over 24 years. Not a growth market.

Source: Forisk Wood Fiber Review Q1 2026, Cummin Landscape Supply (Atlanta), Georgia Landscape Supply, ChromaScape.

The Burner’s Revenue Play: Ash, Topsoil, and Biochar

Most comparisons frame burning as “destroy the material, generate zero revenue.” That is not the full picture.

Ash as soil amendment:

Air curtain burners reduce wood to ash with 97% volume reduction (3% by weight remaining). That ash is not waste.

Wood ash contains 20% to 50% calcium, 3% to 8% potassium, 1% to 2% phosphorus, and 1% to 2% magnesium. It has a CCE (calcium carbonate equivalent) of 25% to 60%.

That means 3 tons of wood ash replaces roughly 1 ton of agricultural lime. It is OMRI Listed for certified organic operations.

A 2025 study in Frontiers in Soil Science showed ash-amended plots yielded 2x the control group. UGA Extension publishes best management practices for wood ash as agricultural soil amendment (Bulletin B1142).

The topsoil play: Blend ash into screened topsoil at controlled ratios. The ash darkens the color (premium appearance), corrects pH (valuable in acidic Southeast soils), and adds nutrients. Premium screened topsoil sells for $45 to $60 per yard in the Southeast.

Your ash input cost is zero because it is a byproduct you already produced. Topsoil vendors have been doing this for decades. Resource Management Inc. has sold wood ash commercially for 30+ years under their “Heart and Soil” product line.

But where does that $45 to $60 per yard number come from? Real wholesale pricing from Atlanta-area suppliers tells the story.

Southeast bulk topsoil pricing (2026):

Basic screened topsoil: $25 to $50 per yard. Add compost or organic amendment and the price jumps to $50 to $89 per yard. That is a 2x to 3x price premium just for blending in amendment. Wood ash does the same job that compost and lime do in those premium blends, and your input cost is zero.

Agricultural lime (which ash replaces) costs $30 to $70 per ton in the Southeast, roughly $22 to $52 per cubic yard (Farmonaut 2026). A topsoil producer blending ash saves the lime cost AND gets a darker, nutrient-rich blend that commands premium pricing.

The contractor opportunity: Land clearing jobs usually leave topsoil on site from grading or excavation. Blending burn ash into that soil turns two low-value materials into one premium product. Raw excavated topsoil: $15 to $30 per yard. Screened and ash-amended: $45 to $60 per yard. The ash costs nothing. The screening takes a trommel. GCS carries those too.

Source: Georgia Landscape Supply, Cummin Landscape Supply, YardCalc 2026, Farmonaut 2026 ag lime data.

The math: Burn 100 tons of debris. Get roughly 3 tons (about 6 cubic yards) of ash. Blend into topsoil to amend 30 to 60+ cubic yards of premium product at $45 to $60 per yard. Revenue: $1,350 to $3,600 from material that a grinder would never have produced.

Biochar: the premium tier

Biochar sits at the top of the value chain:

• Retail price: roughly $125 to $200 per cubic yard ($400 to $533 per ton)
• Carbon credits: $125 to $164 per tonne CO2e
• Production: 10 to 15 cubic yards per day from a standard FireBox
• Revenue potential: $1,250 to $1,875 per day
• Requires modified burn technique (oxygen-limited) or a dedicated CharBoss unit

The key distinction: Biochar is high-value but needs process control and specialized technique. Ash-to-topsoil is simple, proven, and low-effort. Both generate revenue from equipment that “does not produce a sellable product.”

Source: UNH Extension, UGA Extension B1142, Frontiers in Soil Science (2025), RMI Wood Ash Products, Air Burners Inc.

Break-Even Analysis: When Does Grinding Pay?

This is the core of the article. Full math with ALL hidden costs and corrected wholesale pricing.

Volume reality check first: 5,000 tons of green waste does NOT equal 5,000 tons of sellable mulch.

• Minus 20% non-grindable material (stumps, root balls, dirt-laden debris): 4,000 tons grindable
• Minus 10% screening loss and fines: 3,600 tons of usable material
• At 2.5 cubic yards per ton (green chips): roughly 9,000 cubic yards of raw single-ground product
• Regrind to double-ground loses another 5%: roughly 8,500 cubic yards of sellable double-ground mulch
• The 1,000 tons of stumps either go to a burner, get ground separately into low-value hog fuel at $5 to $10 per yard, or get hauled off

Scenario: 5,000 tons per year input (small-to-mid land clearing contractor)

Grinder annual cost deficit vs burner: roughly $316,000 per year.

Revenue needed to close the gap (at WHOLESALE pricing):

• Natural mulch at $12-$18/yd wholesale: 8,500 yards x $15 avg = $127,500. Gap still open by $188,500.
• Colored mulch at $20-$30/yd wholesale: 8,500 yards x $25 avg = $212,500. Gap still open by $103,500. PLUS $10K to $250K colorizer investment. PLUS $3 to $4 per yard colorant ($25,500 to $34,000 per year additional).
• Biomass at $24.50/ton: 3,600 usable tons x $24.50 = $88,200. Gap still open by $227,800.
• Selling RETAIL at $36-$45/yd (requires your own yard + sales operation): 8,500 x $40 = $340,000. This closes the gap. But add yard lease ($24K to $60K per year), sales staff ($40K to $60K per year), and you are now running a mulch retail business, not a land clearing operation.

Air burner revenue offset (ash-to-topsoil):

• 5,000 tons burned produces roughly 150 tons (about 300 cubic yards) of ash
• Blended into topsoil at controlled ratios, this can amend 1,500 to 3,000+ yards
• Premium screened topsoil sells for $45 to $60 per yard in the Southeast
• Revenue potential depends on having topsoil to blend with and a buyer, but even partial utilization offsets a meaningful portion of burner operating costs

Verdict at 5,000 tons per year: Grinding at wholesale pricing cannot close the cost gap. Natural mulch at $12 to $18 per yard wholesale covers less than half the deficit. Colored mulch at $20 to $30 per yard gets closer but requires another $10K to $250K in colorizer capital plus ongoing colorant costs. Biomass at $24.50 per ton is declining and covers less than a third of the gap. The only scenario where grinding wins is selling retail, which means operating a mulch yard as a second business.

What about post-surge carbide pricing? The break-even table above uses pre-surge tip prices ($36 to $49 each). If aftermarket tips climb 50% to 100% as projected, the carbide line item jumps from $27,500 to $41,000 to $55,000 per year. That widens the annual cost gap by $13,500 to $27,500.

At post-surge pricing, even colored mulch sold wholesale cannot close the gap. Retail sales become the only path to profitability.

When grinding DOES pay: At 15,000 to 20,000+ tons per year with an established retail mulch yard, a colorizer, direct sales to contractors and homeowners, and a full maintenance crew already on payroll. At that volume, equipment payments spread across more tons. The mechanic cost stays fixed, so your per-ton overhead drops.

At that scale you are a mulch manufacturer who also clears land, not a land clearing contractor who also sells mulch. The business model is fundamentally different.

Mobilization Math: How Much Debris Justifies an Air Burner on Site?

The real competitor to an air burner is not a grinder. For most small contractors, it is a dump truck and a C&D landfill.

Push debris into a pile. Load it. Haul it. Pay tipping fees. That is how most land clearing waste gets handled. The question is: at what point does it cost less to bring a burner to the job than to haul everything out?

Haul-out cost per ton (Southeast):

Florida runs higher at roughly $63 per ton. Alabama runs lower at roughly $43 per ton. Regional range across the Southeast: $43 to $65 per ton.

Air burner mobilization costs:

Lowboy rates run $4 to $8 per mile (Freedom Heavy Haul). The Merris WX-5 ships via cable hoist truck at 18,000 lbs. The WX-8 at 24,000 lbs needs a roll-on/off carrier. Burn permit costs sourced from our Southeast regulations guide.

Break-even tonnage: mobilization cost divided by savings per ton.

Air burner processing cost: $21.76 per ton (from the break-even table above, all costs included). Savings per ton vs. hauling: $55.80 minus $21.76 = $34.04 per ton.

For a rental scenario: roughly $67 per hour operating cost at 3 to 6 tons per hour (WX-5) = $11 to $22 per ton. Savings: $55.80 minus $22 = $33.80 per ton (conservative).

Break-even at ownership cost:

• Low mobilization ($2,400): 2,400 / $26.04 = 93 tons
• High mobilization ($5,900): 5,900 / $26.04 = 227 tons

Break-even at rental cost (conservative):

• Low mobilization ($2,400): 2,400 / $21.80 = 111 tons
• High mobilization ($5,900): 5,900 / $21.80 = 271 tons

Rule of thumb: if you have 100+ tons of wood waste on a job, an air burner saves money vs. hauling to a landfill. At 250+ tons, it saves money even in worst-case mobilization.

What does 100 tons of wood waste look like?

• A 5-acre light brush clearing: 50 to 100 tons
• A 10-acre moderate timber clearing: 350 to 500 tons
• A 20-acre heavy timber clearing with grubbing: 1,000 to 2,000+ tons
• 100 tons = roughly four 25-ton truck loads

For context: the haul-to-landfill cost on a 10-acre clearing (1,000 tons) runs about $43,000 ($35 per ton tipping + $8,000 trucking). An air burner on that same job: roughly $29,760 in processing cost + $4,000 mobilization = $33,760. Savings: $9,240 on one job. That is before any ash revenue.

The rental option: Air burner rentals run $735 per day, $2,205 per week, and $6,615 per month (Bootheel Rentals). At $2,205 per week with WX-5 throughput of 3 to 6 tons per hour (8 hours a day, 5 days), a weekly rental processes 120 to 240 tons.

A 500-ton job at $55.80 per ton haul-out cost = $27,900 in avoided disposal. Minus the weekly rental ($2,205), fuel and labor ($2,500), and mobilization ($2,500) = net savings of roughly $20,700. One week. One rental. Twenty thousand dollars back in your bid.

Source: Freedom Heavy Haul delivery rates, Bootheel Rentals pricing, EREF 2024 tipping fee data, Machinery Partner case study.

Tub Grinder vs Horizontal Grinder: Which One?

For contractors who decide grinding makes financial sense, the next question is which grinder type.

Rule of thumb: If selling chips as mulch or biomass, buy a horizontal grinder. The controlled feed rate produces a more consistent chip that landscape supply yards will pay for. If doing primary size reduction of stumps and mixed debris before further processing, a tub grinder handles it.

Safety note: Tub grinders eject material at high speed from the open tub. The exclusion zone (the perimeter where no person or vehicle should be) is significantly larger than a horizontal grinder’s. Manufacturer safety guidelines typically call for 300 to 500 feet of clearance around a tub grinder. On tight job sites, that exclusion zone can be a deal-breaker.

Feed material matters more than machine brand. Either grinder type destroys itself on contaminated material. Both need magnet protection. Both need dedicated mechanical support. If you run either machine 1,000+ hours per year, budget for a full-time mechanic and a service truck.

The Hybrid Approach

Many operators run BOTH: an air burner for stumps, roots, brush, and contaminated material, plus a grinder for clean logs and timber with chip value.

• Burn what you cannot sell: Stumps, root balls, dirty material, anything with embedded metal. No risk of tramp metal damage. No low-grade hog fuel filling your yard.
• Grind what you can sell: Clean wood, logs, limbs with confirmed buyers at $20+ per yard.
• Ash from the burner becomes topsoil amendment: An additional revenue stream from material that had no chip value anyway.

This is often the most economical setup for operations with mixed feed streams. The air burner handles the material that would destroy a grinder or produce unsellable output.

The grinder handles the material with real market value. You process less total volume through the grinder, so your tip costs, fuel costs, and maintenance costs all drop.

What About Permits?

Air curtain burners operate under EPA 40 CFR Part 60 Subpart EEEE regulations and often need state or county burn permits.

Key regulatory costs:

• Permit fees: $200 to $500 per site (varies by state and county)
• Opacity testing: $500 to $2,000 per year for compliance monitoring
• Seasonal restrictions: Georgia bans air curtain destructor use during the Summer Open Burn Ban (May through September). Other states have varying seasonal restrictions.
• Compliance time: Permit applications, site inspections, and record-keeping add administrative hours

For a full state-by-state breakdown of air curtain burner regulations, see our open burning regulations guide.

No permit is needed to operate a grinder, though local noise ordinances may apply in residential areas.

Decision Framework

Use this logic to match your operation to the right equipment:

Do you have an established buyer for chips at $25+ per yard? Consider grinding. Without a buyer, you are stockpiling depreciating inventory.

Are you processing 15,000+ tons per year? Grinding economics improve at that volume. Below it, the cost gap favors burning.

Are you in a burn-ban state or season? You must grind. No other option.

Is the material stumps, roots, or contaminated with metal? Burn it. Grinding this material destroys tips, screens, and bearings.

Is the material clean, sorted logs? Grind it. This is where chip value is highest.

Capital under $200K? An air burner fits the budget. A production grinder does not.

No mulch yard? No chip buyer? Burn. Period.

Want revenue from waste material? Ash-to-topsoil blending or biochar production. Both turn burner output into sellable product.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost per ton to grind wood waste?

At wholesale, grinding costs $85 per ton all-in for a 5,000 ton per year operation. This includes equipment payments, fuel, carbide tips, a full-time mechanic, insurance, and hauling. The per-ton cost drops at higher volumes, but the mechanic and service truck costs remain fixed.

How much does an air curtain burner cost to operate per hour?

All-in: roughly $67 per hour including fuel, maintenance, depreciation, and labor for one operator. The machine alone costs $32 per hour. Fuel runs $10 per hour at 2.5 gallons per hour. One person runs the entire operation: loading, monitoring, and feeding.

Compare that to $244 to $274 per hour for a horizontal grinder with two crew.

What does mulch sell for wholesale vs retail?

Natural double-ground mulch: $12 to $18 per yard wholesale, $36 to $48 retail. Colored mulch: $20 to $30 wholesale, $36 to $45 retail. Raw single-ground chips: $5 to $10 per yard or sometimes free.

Most grinder operators sell wholesale to landscape supply yards. To capture retail pricing, you need your own yard and sales operation.

Why are grinder carbide tips getting more expensive?

China controls 80%+ of global tungsten production and activated export controls in January 2026. Tungsten raw material prices have risen 885% since January 2025.

Carbide powder costs jumped from $46 per kilogram to $242 per kilogram. Retail tip prices have not caught up yet, but Sandvik (the largest carbide tool manufacturer) already raised prices 22% and called it “insufficient.”

What happens if metal gets into a horizontal grinder?

Minor incidents (single nail): $100 to $500 in tip replacements. Moderate incidents (rebar): $3,500 to $9,000 and 1 to 3 days of downtime. Catastrophic incidents (cable wrap or structural steel): $25,000 to $50,000+ and 2 to 6 weeks down. Fire from metal sparks or bearing wrap: $100,000 to $1,000,000+ and possible total loss.

Do you need to grind twice to make sellable mulch?

Yes. Sellable landscape mulch is “double-ground” at 2 to 2.5 inch particle size. First pass does primary size reduction through 6 to 8 inch screens.

Second pass (regrind) through 2 to 3 inch screens produces the consistent finish buyers demand. Your grinder runs twice per ton of finished product.

Can you sell air burner ash?

Yes. Wood ash contains 20% to 50% calcium, 3% to 8% potassium, and has a CCE of 25% to 60%. Blend it into screened topsoil for premium product at $45 to $60 per yard.

It is OMRI Listed for organic operations. Resource Management Inc. has sold wood ash commercially for 30+ years. You can also produce biochar (retail $125 to $200 per cubic yard) with modified burn techniques.

Do air curtain burners work during burn bans?

It depends on the state. Georgia bans air curtain destructor use during the Summer Open Burn Ban (May through September). Other states have different seasonal rules.

Some jurisdictions allow air curtain burners year-round because they produce minimal smoke. Always check your state and county regulations before planning a burn. See our Southeast regulations guide for details.

Call GCS

Every piece of equipment discussed in this article is available through GCS. No matter which direction the math points you, one call covers all three:

• Horizontal grinders (used, brokerage)
• Tub grinders (used, brokerage)
• Air burners (new Merris WX-5 and WX-8, plus used)
• Mulch colorizers
• Grinder tips (all major brands)
• Grinder wear parts

In business since 1973. Call 770-433-2670 or email Sales@grindercrusherscreen.com.

Land clearing runs $1,200 to $6,000+ per acre in the Southeast. The price depends on terrain, tree density, and how you handle the debris. That last one is where most contractors bleed money.

A flat acre of brush with no trees? Two guys and a mulcher knock it out before lunch. Forty acres of hardwood with 14-inch oaks and root balls the size of truck beds? That is a different job entirely.

This guide breaks down real per-acre costs by terrain type, explains the cost drivers most contractors underestimate, and shows how the right equipment turns your biggest expense into your smallest line item.

Average Land Clearing Cost Per Acre by Terrain Type

These numbers reflect contractor-to-contractor pricing across Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and the Carolinas. Costs are for clearing only. They do not include grading, site prep, or erosion control.

The gap between “light brush” and “heavy timber with grubbing” is a 5x to 8x difference. Most of that gap comes from two things: machine hours and debris volume.

What Drives Land Clearing Cost

Six factors push land clearing cost per acre up or down. Know them before you bid.

Tree density and diameter. More trees means more machine hours. A 6-inch pine falls in one pass. A 16-inch oak takes multiple cuts, directional felling, and more time on the ground. Dense canopy lots at 200+ trees per acre can double your clearing time compared to 80 trees per acre.

Stump removal vs. grind-in-place. Grinding stumps flush adds $500 to $1,000 per acre. Full grubbing (pulling root balls out of the ground) adds $1,000 to $1,500 per acre. If the site goes to pasture or timber replanting, you can often leave stumps in place. If it goes to construction with footings, they have to come out.

Debris disposal method. This is the number one hidden cost on any land clearing job. More on this below.

Terrain. Slopes over 15% slow every machine on the site. Wet ground means wider tracks or mats. Rocky soil kills grubbing productivity. Any of these conditions can add 20-40% to your base clearing cost.

Access. Narrow residential lots limit equipment size. Utility easements restrict where you can fell timber. Tight access means smaller machines, slower work, and more hand labor. A job with 200 feet of frontage clears faster than the same acreage on a flag lot with a 20-foot driveway.

Permits. Burn permits cost $0 to $50 in most Southeast states. See our state-by-state open burning permit guide for detailed requirements by state. Erosion control plans, tree preservation ordinances, and county-specific clearing permits can add $500 to $2,000 in compliance costs before you cut the first tree. Metro counties in Georgia and Florida are stricter than rural counties.

The Debris Problem: Where Land Clearing Gets Expensive

Here is the math most contractors miss when they bid land clearing work.

A single acre of moderate timber produces 80 to 150 tons of wood waste. Tops, limbs, trunks, brush, and slash. It all has to go somewhere.

Your options:

Chip and haul. Bring in a chipper or horizontal grinder, reduce everything to chips, truck it to a disposal site or mulch yard. Cost: $800 to $1,500 per acre depending on haul distance and tipping fees.

Whole-log removal. Buck the merchantable timber and haul logs to a sawmill or pulpwood yard. Cost: $500 to $1,000 per acre. This only works if the timber has value. Pine pulpwood prices in the Southeast have fallen sharply, down 22% year-over-year and 46% below the 2022 peak. Some mills will not take hardwood under 8 inches.

Slash pile burning. Stack it and burn it. Cost: free, if your county still allows open pile burning. Many metro and suburban counties have banned it or restricted it to winter months only.

Now run the numbers on hauling. Say you clear 10 acres of moderate timber. That is 1,000 tons of wood waste. At $35 per ton in tipping fees plus $200 per load for trucking (25-ton trailers), you are looking at:

• Tipping fees: 1,000 tons x $35 = $35,000
• Trucking: 40 loads x $200 = $8,000
• Total disposal cost: $43,000

That is $4,300 per acre just for disposal. On a job where the clearing itself costs $4,000 per acre, disposal just doubled your total cost.

Every additional mile of haul distance adds cost per ton. A disposal site 30 miles away costs meaningfully more than one 10 miles away. And if the closest vegetative waste facility is booked out two weeks, you are paying for idle time while your slash piles sit.

How Air Curtain Burners Cut Debris Disposal Costs

An air curtain burner processes wood waste on site. You feed trees, stumps, brush, and slash directly into the burn box. A high-velocity air curtain forces complete combustion. Smoke drops to near zero. The fire burns at 1,800 degrees or higher.

The results change the job economics completely.

Volume reduction: 95% or more. One hundred tons of wood waste becomes roughly 5 tons of clean ash. That ash stays on site as a soil amendment or gets hauled in a single truck. Compare that to 40 haul trips for the same material.

No tipping fees. Nothing leaves the site. No disposal facility charges.

No waiting for chip trucks. Your clearing crew keeps working instead of standing around waiting for the next empty trailer.

Approved where open pile burning is restricted. Air curtain burners meet EPA and state air quality standards. Most Southeast states permit them in counties where open burning is banned. They produce a fraction of the particulate matter that an open burn produces.

The Merris WX-5 handles residential and small commercial clearing jobs. It is the right size for 1 to 10 acre projects with moderate timber. The Merris WX-8 handles large-scale commercial clearing and utility right-of-way projects where you are processing 48 to 72 tons per day in a full work day.

Here is the comparison that matters. Renting an air burner for a 10-acre clearing job costs less than hauling the debris off one acre. On the job above, you would spend $43,000 hauling. An air burner rental for the same project duration runs a fraction of that.

Looking to buy instead of rent? GCS distributes both the WX-5 and WX-8 through the parent site.

When You Need a Crusher Too

Land clearing is not always just trees and brush. Commercial sites often have old building foundations, concrete pads, sidewalks, or abandoned driveways buried in the dirt.

A portable jaw crusher turns that concrete into reusable aggregate on site. The material comes out sized for road base, backfill, or pipe bedding. That saves you twice.

First, you skip hauling concrete debris to a C&D landfill. Concrete disposal runs $25 to $65 per ton at most Southeast facilities. A 6-inch slab over a half-acre pad produces roughly 800 tons of concrete. At $45 per ton in tipping fees, that is $36,000 in disposal alone.

Second, you stop buying imported base material. Crushed aggregate runs $15 to $25 per ton delivered. If you need 800 tons of base for the same site, you just saved another $12,000 to $20,000 by reusing what you crushed.

The Evortle CT-535 handles residential foundations and smaller commercial pads. The CT-850 handles large commercial and industrial demo. Both are jaw crushers built for concrete, rock, and brick. They do not process asphalt. Impact crushers handle asphalt.

This setup is common on commercial land clearing where existing structures are being removed before new construction. Clear the timber with a mulcher, burn the slash with an air burner, crush the concrete with a jaw crusher. Three pieces of equipment, zero haul trips.

Land Clearing Cost by State (Southeast)

Costs vary state to state. Here is what drives the difference.

Florida. Highest vegetative tipping fees in the region. Some facilities charge $40 to $50 per ton. Burn permits go through the Florida Forest Service. Wet season (June through October) adds cost on low-lying sites. Many counties require tree surveys before clearing. See Florida equipment availability.

Georgia. Moderate costs overall. EPD burn permits required in metro Atlanta counties (Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb). Rural counties are more flexible. Tipping fees run $25 to $40 per ton. Georgia Forestry Commission handles burn permits outside metro areas. See Georgia equipment availability.

Alabama. Lowest tipping fees in the region at $20 to $30 per ton. Alabama Forestry Commission issues burn permits. Less restrictive clearing regulations in most counties. Labor rates run lower than Georgia and Florida.

Tennessee. Costs vary sharply by region. West Tennessee (flat farmland) clears cheaply. East Tennessee (mountain terrain, rocky soil, steep grades) adds 30-50% to base clearing costs. Tennessee Division of Forestry handles burn permits. Erosion controls tighten near waterways.

North Carolina. The NC Forest Service (under the Department of Agriculture) issues burn permits. DEQ handles air quality compliance separately. Stricter erosion control requirements than neighboring states. Sedimentation and Pollution Control Act applies to any land disturbance over one acre. Tipping fees run $30 to $45 per ton.

South Carolina. The Forestry Commission manages burn notifications (not permits). You notify the commission before burning at scfc.gov. Moderate tipping fees at $25 to $35 per ton. Coastal counties (Charleston, Beaufort, Horry) have stricter tree preservation ordinances than upstate counties.

Get the Right Equipment for Your Clearing Job

Debris handling is the swing factor on every land clearing bid. The contractors who make money on clearing jobs are the ones who process material on site instead of paying someone else to haul it away.

GCS has connected contractors with air burner and crusher rentals across the Southeast since 1973. Tell us about your project: acreage, terrain, timber density, and any concrete or structures on site. We match you with the right equipment and a provider in your area.

Call 770-433-2670 to get connected with equipment for your next clearing project.

Or visit our equipment pages:

• Air Burner Rentals for wood waste disposal
• Concrete Crusher Rentals for foundation and slab removal
• Air burner rentals in Atlanta, Jacksonville, and Nashville

Tipping fees are the single biggest line item most contractors forget to bid. A 200-ton concrete demo job in Florida costs $10,500 in disposal fees alone. That number hits before you load the first truck.

This guide breaks down what tipping fees are, what they cost state by state, and three ways to cut them to zero.

What Is a Tipping Fee?

A tipping fee is the per-ton charge a landfill, transfer station, or recycling facility charges to accept your waste. The name comes from the action: you back up to the working face, “tip” your load, and pay at the scale house on the way out.

Most construction and demolition (C&D) facilities charge per ton. The truck rolls across an inbound scale, dumps, then rolls across the outbound scale. The weight difference is your billable tonnage. Some smaller operations charge per cubic yard or flat per-load fees instead, but ton-based pricing is the industry standard at permitted C&D landfills.

The fee varies by material type too. Clean concrete typically gets a lower gate rate than mixed C&D loads. Loads with contaminants (lead paint, asbestos-containing drywall) cost more because they require special handling cells.

Three things drive tipping fee rates:

1. Operating costs. Dozers, compactors, labor, and diesel to spread and compact waste daily. 2. Environmental compliance. Liner systems, leachate collection, groundwater monitoring wells, stormwater ponds, and air quality permits all add cost per ton. 3. Closure and post-closure funds. Federal law requires every landfill to set aside money for final capping, grading, revegetation, and 30 years of post-closure groundwater monitoring.

These costs get passed directly to you at the scale house. And they rise every year. Tipping fees have increased faster than inflation in recent years. The national average rose 10% in a single year between 2023 and 2024, reaching $62.28 per ton for municipal solid waste. The EPA estimates over 600 million tons of C&D debris are generated in the US each year, and disposal costs climb as landfill capacity tightens.

How Much Are Tipping Fees? State-by-State Rates

Tipping fees vary by state, county, facility, and material type. C&D waste (concrete, asphalt, wood, drywall) usually costs less than municipal solid waste (MSW) because it takes up more space but poses fewer contamination risks.

Here are average C&D tipping fee rates for six Southeast states:

Key variables that shift your actual rate:

• Material type. Clean concrete often gets a lower rate than mixed C&D. Vegetative waste sometimes has a separate, cheaper fee. Contaminated material (painted wood, drywall with lead paint) costs significantly more.
• Volume commitments. Some facilities offer discounted rates for contractors who bring consistent volume.
• Distance from metro areas. Rural landfills with open capacity tend to charge less than urban transfer stations.

MSW tipping fees run 20-40% higher than C&D rates at most facilities. Vegetative waste (stumps, brush, logs) often gets a separate, lower rate at facilities that grind and mulch it.

One more thing to watch: surcharges. Many landfills add fuel surcharges, environmental fees, or gate fees on top of the published per-ton rate. Always ask for the “all-in” gate rate before you bid a job. A $45/ton posted rate can turn into $52/ton after surcharges.

The Real Cost of Tipping Fees on a Demo Job

Tipping fees are only part of the disposal bill. Every ton you haul off-site also costs you trucking, driver time, and lost production on the demo site. Here is a real example.

Job: 200-ton concrete slab demo in Central Florida.

That $12,550 is pure disposal cost. No demo labor. No excavator rental. No site prep. No profit margin. For a deeper look at concrete disposal economics specifically, see our concrete disposal cost breakdown.

On most demo jobs, haul-out and disposal eat 15-25% of the total project budget. On smaller slabs and foundations, the percentage climbs even higher because the fixed costs (mobilization, permits, traffic control) stay the same regardless of tonnage.

Now multiply that across a year of jobs. A mid-size demo contractor running 15-20 jobs per year can easily spend $150,000-$250,000 annually on tipping fees and trucking.

Every haul trip also burns production time. Your excavator sits idle while the truck runs to the landfill and back. A two-hour round trip is standard. On a 10-load job, that is 20 hours of gate-to-gate trucking. Your operator waits. Your timeline stretches. Your overhead keeps ticking.

There is also a hidden cost most contractors miss: fuel. A loaded tri-axle burns roughly 4-5 gallons per hour. Ten round trips at two hours each uses 80-100 gallons of diesel. At $4/gallon, that adds $320-$400 to the disposal bill that never shows up on the tipping receipt.

Three Ways to Reduce or Eliminate Tipping Fees

The math changes when you process material on-site instead of hauling it to a landfill. Here are three methods that work.

1. On-Site Crushing

A portable jaw crusher turns reinforced concrete into reusable aggregate right on the demo site. Your excavator feeds broken slab into the hopper. The crusher processes rebar-reinforced concrete and outputs 3/4-inch minus base material. That crushed product works as road base, pipe bedding, backfill, or parking lot sub-base.

The numbers on that 200-ton Florida job:

• Tipping fees eliminated: $10,500
• Trucking eliminated: $1,350
• Driver time eliminated: $700
• Value of crushed base material (200 tons x ~$12/ton): $2,400
• Total swing: $14,950

A compact crusher like the Evortle CT-535 handles jobs in the 50-150 ton range. For larger demo work (parking structures, bridge decks, commercial foundations), the CT-850 processes 65 to 130 tons per hour. For a step-by-step walkthrough of the crushing process, see how on-site concrete crushing works.

See available concrete crushers in the Southeast.

2. On-Site Screening

A trommel screen separates mixed material into clean, reusable fractions. Feed goes into the rotating drum. Clean soil drops through the screen openings. Oversize rock and aggregate discharge off the end. Debris and trash get sorted out separately.

The result: 60-70% of your material stays on-site as usable fill or topsoil. Only the contaminated fraction goes to the landfill. That cuts your tipping fees, trucking, and haul time by roughly the same percentage.

Screening works well on excavation spoils, land-clearing sites with mixed fill, utility trenching backfill, and any job where dirt and debris are mixed together. Instead of paying $45/ton to dump clean soil at a landfill, you screen it and reuse it on the same project.

See available trommel screens in the Southeast.

3. On-Site Burning

An air curtain burner processes vegetative waste on the job site: trees, stumps, brush, root balls, and land-clearing debris. A high-velocity curtain of air feeds the fire pit, holding combustion temperatures above 1,800 degrees F. That high heat reduces wood waste volume by roughly 95%.

Here is what that means in practice. A 500-cubic-yard brush pile from a 10-acre clearing job burns down to a few cubic yards of ash. That is 25 truckloads reduced to one. At $35/ton tipping and $135/load trucking, burning saves $4,000-$6,000 on a single clearing job.

Most Southeast states allow air curtain burners in counties where open pile burning is banned. The controlled combustion produces far less smoke and particulate than open burning, which makes permitting easier.

See available air burners in the Southeast.

When On-Site Processing Beats Hauling

Not every job justifies renting a crusher or a screen. Here is a quick sizing guide.

At a $45/ton tipping fee, the break-even point for a crusher rental is roughly 50 tons. Below that, the rental mobilization cost exceeds what you save on tipping and trucking.

Other factors that tip the math toward on-site processing:

• Long haul distances. If the nearest C&D facility is 30+ miles away, trucking costs climb fast. A 60-mile round trip at $4.50/mile loaded adds $270 per trip before you even pay the tipping fee.
• Reuse potential. If the project needs fill, base, or grading material, crushed concrete or screened soil eliminates a separate purchase. You avoid paying for disposal and avoid paying for new aggregate.
• Tight schedules. Hauling 200 tons takes 10 truck loads over two or more days. A crusher processes 200 tons in a single shift. That schedule compression matters on jobs with liquidated damages or tight turnover deadlines.
• Multiple material types. Jobs with both concrete and vegetative waste can pair a crusher with an air burner. The crusher handles the hard material. The burner handles the wood waste. Nothing goes to the landfill.

Stop Paying to Throw Away Reusable Material

Tipping fees drain project budgets on every demo and site-clearing job in the Southeast. Rates average $35-$52 per ton today and keep climbing as landfill capacity tightens. The contractors who keep more profit per job are the ones who process material on-site instead of hauling it to the dump.

GrinderCrusherScreen has connected contractors with portable crushers, trommel screens, and air burners since 1973. Call 770-433-2670 to get matched with a provider in your area, or browse equipment at grindercrusherscreen.com.

Concrete disposal runs between $15 and $55 per ton at the gate. That number depends on your state, the type of facility, and how clean the material is. But that gate fee is only part of the story. Once you add trucking, loading, and driver wait time, most contractors pay $25 to $80 per ton all-in.

There is another option. Crush it on-site, skip the landfill entirely, and turn demo waste into usable base material. Here is a full cost breakdown of both approaches so you can run the numbers on your next job.

Concrete Disposal Cost Breakdown

Every haul trip has four cost layers. Most bids only account for the first one.

Tipping fees: $15 to $55 per ton. C&D landfills in the Southeast charge $15 to $30 per ton for clean concrete. Mixed loads with rebar, dirt, or wood waste push that to $40 to $55 per ton. Recycling centers that accept clean concrete typically charge $10 to $20 per ton, but they reject loads with contaminants.

Trucking: $4 to $6 per loaded mile (round-trip). A 20-ton end dump running 25 miles round-trip to the nearest C&D landfill costs $100 to $150 per trip. That is $5 to $7.50 added per ton just for the truck. Double the mileage and you double the freight cost.

Loading: $150 to $300 per hour. You need an excavator or skid steer with an operator to load trucks. A 150-ton job takes 8 loads in a 20-ton truck. At 20 to 30 minutes per load cycle, that is 3 to 4 hours of loader time: $450 to $1,200 depending on the machine and operator rate.

Wait time at the landfill: 30 to 60 minutes per load. During peak hours, trucks sit in line. At $85 to $125 per hour for a driver and truck, each wait adds $42 to $125 per load. Over 8 loads, that is $336 to $1,000 in dead time.

All-in cost per ton: $25 to $80. The exact number depends on haul distance, landfill rates in your area, load cleanliness, and how busy the facility is. But the gate fee alone never tells the full story.

Cost Comparison Table: Hauling vs. On-Site Crushing

This table shows total project costs at four common job sizes. Hauling assumes a 25-mile round-trip, $35/ton tipping fee, and $5/ton trucking. Crushing assumes weekly equipment rental, fuel, and operator costs.

The break-even point sits right around 50 tons. Below that, hauling is usually cheaper or close to even. Above 50 tons, the savings from on-site crushing climb fast. At 500 tons, you are cutting your disposal cost by more than half.

These numbers do not include the value of the crushed material you keep on-site. More on that below.

What Jaw Crushers Actually Process

Before you rent a crusher, know what it handles and what it does not.

Concrete (plain and rebar-reinforced): YES. Jaw crushers process concrete slabs, footings, walls, and foundations. Rebar is not a problem. The CT-850 includes a standard cross magnet that pulls rebar during processing. The CT-535 offers an optional magnet for the same function. The steel goes to a scrap pile, and you get clean aggregate.

Rock, brick, block, and C&D rubble: YES. Natural stone, CMU block, brick, and mixed masonry all run through a jaw crusher. The machine does not care if it is poured or laid.

Asphalt: NO. Jaw crushers do not process asphalt. The material is too soft and sticky for a jaw chamber. Asphalt recycling requires an impact crusher, which uses a different crushing action. Do not try to run asphalt through a jaw crusher.

The output: 3/4-inch minus aggregate. Adjust the CSS (closed-side setting) and you get material sized for base course, backfill, pipe bedding, or spec aggregate. Most contractors use the crushed output as road base or structural fill right on the same job site. That means zero haul trips out and zero haul trips in for new base material.

Two Models, Two Job Sizes

GrinderCrusherScreen connects contractors with two Evortle jaw crusher models. Each one fits a different scale of work.

Evortle CT-535: 14,330 lbs. Compact enough to ride on a tag-along trailer behind a one-ton pickup. Designed for residential tear-outs, small commercial demo, and tight job sites where a full-size crusher will not fit. Ideal for jobs under 200 tons.

Evortle CT-850: 52,910 lbs. This is a production machine. It ships on a lowboy and processes material at rates that keep up with large commercial and municipal demo projects. Built for jobs over 200 tons where throughput matters.

Quick sizing rule: Under 200 tons, the CT-535 handles it. Over 200 tons, step up to the CT-850. If you are tearing out a residential driveway or a small parking lot, the CT-535 is the right fit. If you are demolishing a warehouse floor or a multi-story foundation, the CT-850 pays for itself in speed. Not sure how much concrete you have? Our tonnage estimation guide has formulas for slabs, footings, and walls. For a step-by-step process walkthrough, see how on-site crushing works.

The Math on a Real Job

Here is a side-by-side on a real-world scenario: a 150-ton parking lot tear-out in Atlanta, GA.

Option A: Haul It Out

• Loads: 150 tons / 18.75 tons per truck = 8 loads
• Tipping fees: $45/ton x 18.75 tons = $843.75 per load x 8 loads = $6,750
• Trucking: $135 per load x 8 loads = $1,080
• Loading time: ~4 hours at $200/hr = $800
• Total haul-out cost: $8,630

Option B: Crush On-Site

• Weekly crusher rental (CT-535): ~$3,200
• Fuel: ~$500 for the week
• Operator (if needed): ~$500
• Total crushing cost: $4,200

The Bottom Line

Net savings: $4,430. That is a 51% reduction in disposal cost.

But it gets better. The crushed concrete you produced is worth money. At $12/ton for 3/4-inch minus base material, that 150 tons of aggregate has a value of $1,800. Use it as backfill on the same site, and you also skip buying and hauling in new base material.

Total economic advantage: $6,230 when you count both the disposal savings and the recovered material value.

Contractors running demo work in the Southeast see these numbers on nearly every job over 100 tons. The further your job site sits from the nearest C&D landfill, the more the math favors on-site crushing.

Looking at a project in Tampa, Jacksonville, or anywhere else in the Southeast? The same math applies. Haul distances and tipping fees vary by county, but the break-even stays around 50 tons in most markets.

Get Matched with a Crusher for Your Next Demo Job

GrinderCrusherScreen has connected contractors with heavy equipment since 1973. Tell us about your job: tonnage, material type, location, and timeline. We will match you with a crusher and get you a quote.

Call 770-433-2670 or visit the concrete crusher rental page to request pricing.

Looking to buy instead of rent? Browse concrete crushers for sale on GrinderCrusherScreen.com.

Every stone order starts with the same question: how many tons? Order too little and the truck comes back. Order too much and you pay for material you do not need. The math is straightforward once you know the formula.

This guide covers the tonnage calculation from start to finish. Measurement, cubic yard conversion, material weight factors, depth requirements by application, and worked examples you can plug your numbers into right now.

The Basic Formula

Three measurements. One formula. That is all you need.

Length (ft) x Width (ft) x Depth (ft) / 27 = Cubic Yards

Divide by 27 because there are 27 cubic feet in one cubic yard. Measure length and width in feet. Convert depth from inches to feet by dividing by 12.

Example: A driveway that is 60 feet long, 12 feet wide, and 4 inches deep.

60 x 12 x 0.333 / 27 = 8.88 cubic yards

Round up to 9 cubic yards. Then multiply by the material weight to get tons.

Cubic Yards to Tons: Conversion by Material Type

Not all aggregate weighs the same. Crushed stone is heavier than topsoil. Sand is heavier than gravel. Use the correct weight factor for your material or you will be off by 20% or more.

The quick rule: most crushed stone weighs about 1.3 to 1.4 tons per cubic yard. Use 1.35 tons per cubic yard as a general estimate for crushed limestone. If you are ordering crusher run, use 1.25 because the smaller particles pack tighter with less air space.

Back to the driveway example: 9 cubic yards x 1.35 tons per cubic yard = 12.15 tons. Order 13 tons to account for waste and compaction.

Recommended Depth by Application

Stone depth depends on what it is supporting and whether it is a base layer or a surface layer. Too thin and it fails under load. Too thick and you waste material.

Do not skip the base. A gravel driveway with no base course turns into ruts within a year. Crusher run compacts into a solid base that supports the surface stone. The surface layer provides drainage and the finished look.

Coverage Per Ton by Stone Size

Different stone sizes cover different areas at the same depth because larger stones have more air space between them. This table shows coverage at 2-inch depth, a common surface layer thickness.

Why crusher run covers less: the fine particles fill the gaps between larger stones. Less air space means more weight per square foot. That is also why crusher run compacts better than open-graded stone. It locks together.

Worked Examples: Real Projects, Real Numbers

Four common projects calculated step by step. Plug in your own measurements using the same method.

Example 1: Residential Driveway (60 x 12 ft)

Two layers: 6-inch crusher run base + 2-inch #57 stone surface.

Base layer: 60 x 12 x 0.5 / 27 = 13.33 cubic yards 13.33 x 1.25 tons/cy = 16.67 tons Order: 17 tons crusher run

Surface layer: 60 x 12 x 0.167 / 27 = 4.44 cubic yards 4.44 x 1.35 tons/cy = 6.0 tons Order: 7 tons #57 stone

Total: 24 tons (two deliveries, two materials)

Example 2: Parking Pad (20 x 20 ft)

Single layer: 6-inch crusher run, compacted.

20 x 20 x 0.5 / 27 = 7.41 cubic yards 7.41 x 1.25 = 9.26 tons Order: 10 tons crusher run

Example 3: French Drain (50 ft long x 2 ft wide x 1 ft deep)

50 x 2 x 1 / 27 = 3.70 cubic yards 3.70 x 1.35 = 5.0 tons Order: 6 tons #57 washed stone (add a ton for waste and overfill)

Example 4: Base Course for a Slab (100 x 24 ft at 6-inch depth)

100 x 24 x 0.5 / 27 = 44.44 cubic yards 44.44 x 1.25 = 55.56 tons Order: 57 tons crusher run

At 57 tons, you are looking at three standard dump truck loads (18 to 20 tons each). Confirm with your supplier whether they run tandem or tri-axle trucks so you know the delivery count.

The Waste Factor: How Much Extra to Order

Always order more than the math says. Material gets lost to compaction, spreading, edge spillage, and uneven subgrade.

Standard waste factor: 10%. Multiply your calculated tonnage by 1.10. A 20-ton calculation becomes a 22-ton order.

When to add more:

• Uneven subgrade: 15% waste factor. Dips and hollows eat more material than the average depth suggests. If your subgrade varies by 2 or more inches, add extra.
• Long delivery distance: Order full truckloads when possible. A truck that holds 20 tons costs the same to deliver whether it carries 18 tons or 20 tons. Round up to the nearest full load.
• Compaction: Crusher run loses 15% to 20% of its uncompacted volume when you run a plate compactor or roller over it. Factor this in. If you need 6 inches of compacted depth, place 7 to 8 inches of loose material.

Return policies vary. Some suppliers take back unused stone. Most do not. It is cheaper to have a small pile left over than to schedule a second delivery because you came up short.

Delivery Logistics: Trucks, Loads, and Timing

Stone arrives by dump truck. Know what to expect before the truck shows up.

Hauling stone in your own truck? See how much a yard of gravel weighs and truck payload limits by vehicle for pickup, dump trailer, and dump truck capacity by material type.

Delivery fee: $75 to $200 per load. Most quarries include delivery within a radius (often 15 to 25 miles) and charge per mile beyond. Always ask for the delivered price per ton, not just the material price. A stone that costs $2 less per ton but adds $150 in delivery is not a deal.

Site access matters. Make sure the truck can get in, dump, and get out. A tri-axle dump truck needs a 10-foot-wide path and 40 feet of straight distance to dump safely. Overhead power lines, low branches, and soft ground are all problems. Communicate access restrictions to the quarry when you order.

Producing Your Own Aggregate On-Site

If you have concrete rubble, broken rock, or demolition waste on-site, you can crush it into base aggregate instead of buying stone from a quarry.

A portable jaw crusher turns demo concrete into 3/4-inch minus aggregate suitable for base courses, backfill, pipe bedding, and structural fill. Know your tonnage before you start. The same calculation in this guide tells you how many tons of finished aggregate you need. That number tells you how many tons of rubble to feed through the crusher and how many days of crushing the job requires.

Example math: You need 57 tons of base material for a slab pour. You have 80 tons of broken concrete from the old slab you just demolished. Crush 57 tons of it and stockpile the finished aggregate on-site. Zero delivery trips. Zero material cost.

Use the rental cost calculator on our crusher page to estimate what the crushing would cost. For a deeper look at the process, read our guide to on-site concrete crushing.

Our tonnage estimation guide has formulas for calculating how much concrete you get from slabs, footings, walls, and other common demo scenarios.

Stone Sizes and Grades: Picking the Right Material

Not sure which stone to order? The size determines the application.

#57 stone (3/4 to 1 inch): The most common stone for driveways, drainage, and general construction. Good drainage. Does not compact as tightly as crusher run. Use it for surface layers, French drains, and pipe bedding.

#67 stone (3/4 inch): Slightly more uniform than #57. Used for concrete mix aggregate, drainage backfill, and yard projects.

Crusher run (dense-graded base): A mix of crushed stone and fine particles from dust up to 1.5 inches. Compacts into a solid, stable base. This is the standard sub-base material for driveways, parking lots, and building pads.

Stone dust / screenings: The finest fraction from the crushing process. Used as a leveling layer under pavers, as a filler, and as a top-dressing for paths. Packs very tight when wet and compacted.

For a full breakdown of stone sizes, grades, and applications, see our crushed stone sizes and grades guide. If you are working with crusher run specifically, our crusher run guide covers specs, uses, and installation.

For an overview of how aggregate fits into the broader construction material picture, see our construction aggregate types guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many tons in a cubic yard of crushed stone?

Crushed limestone weighs about 1.35 tons per cubic yard. Crushed granite is slightly lighter at 1.30 tons per cubic yard. Crusher run weighs about 1.25 tons per cubic yard. Natural gravel runs heavier at 1.40 tons per cubic yard. These numbers vary by moisture content, source quarry, and gradation, but they are close enough for ordering estimates. Always confirm with your supplier if you are working to tight tolerances.

How deep should stone be for a driveway?

A properly built gravel driveway needs 8 to 12 inches total. That is 6 to 8 inches of compacted crusher run base topped with 2 to 3 inches of surface stone (#57 or #67). The base layer is the structural support. The surface layer provides drainage and a finished appearance. Skipping the base layer or going too thin leads to ruts, potholes, and expensive rework within a year.

How much waste factor should I add?

Add 10% for standard projects with a reasonably flat subgrade. Add 15% if the ground is uneven, soft, or has dips that will consume extra material. If your stone needs to be compacted (crusher run base courses), account for 15% to 20% volume loss from compaction on top of the waste factor. It is always cheaper to have a small surplus than to order a second delivery.

How many tons does a dump truck carry?

A single axle dump truck carries 6 to 8 tons. A tandem axle carries 15 to 18 tons. A tri-axle carries 20 to 24 tons. A tractor-trailer end dump carries 22 to 26 tons. Capacity depends on the truck configuration, local weight limits, and the density of the material. When ordering, ask your supplier what trucks they run so you can calculate how many loads your job requires.

What is the difference between a cubic yard and a ton?

A cubic yard is a measurement of volume: 3 feet long, 3 feet wide, 3 feet tall. It measures how much space material occupies. A ton is a measurement of weight: 2,000 lbs. The relationship between the two depends on the material density. One cubic yard of crushed stone weighs about 1.35 tons. One cubic yard of topsoil weighs about 1.0 ton. You need both measurements because quarries sell by the ton but you plan your project by the cubic yard.

A portable jaw crusher costs $150,000 to $450,000 or more to buy. Renting the same machine runs $7,500 to $12,000 per week. The right choice depends on one number: how many weeks per year you actually run a crusher.

This guide breaks down every cost on both sides of the equation. Purchase price, rental rates, hidden ownership expenses, and the exact utilization threshold where buying beats renting. No theory. Just the math.

What a Portable Crusher Costs to Buy

Portable jaw crushers come in two categories. Compact models for residential and small commercial work, and production machines for high-volume demo and recycling operations.

Compact jaw crushers: $150,000 to $220,000. Machines in the 14,000 to 25,000 lb range. The Evortle CT-535 sits in this class at 14,330 lbs with a 20×14-inch jaw opening. These units tow behind a one-ton pickup on a standard tag-along trailer. They handle jobs under 200 tons and fit through residential gates and into tight sites.

Production jaw crushers: $350,000 to $500,000+. Machines from 40,000 to 65,000 lbs. The Evortle CT-850 falls here at 52,910 lbs with a 32×20-inch jaw opening. These ship on a lowboy and process 65 to 130 tons per hour. Built for commercial demo, municipal recycling, and high-volume concrete processing.

Used market pricing: 40% to 60% of new. A five-year-old compact crusher in good condition sells for $90,000 to $130,000. A used production machine runs $150,000 to $240,000 depending on hours, jaw wear, and overall condition. GCS sells both new and used portable crushers. Browse available crushers here.

But the sticker price is only the beginning. Ownership costs stack up fast once the machine hits your yard.

Total Cost of Ownership: What You Actually Pay

Purchase price gets you the machine. Keeping it running costs another 8% to 12% of the purchase price every year. Here is where that money goes.

Jaw plates are the big consumable. They wear based on material hardness, feed rate, and CSS setting. Crushing reinforced concrete wears jaws faster than plain concrete or block. Most contractors replace jaw plates every 400 to 800 operating hours on a compact machine and every 600 to 1,000 hours on a production unit. Budget for one to two jaw sets per year if you run regularly.

Maintenance is not optional. Hydraulic hoses, bearings, toggle plates, conveyor belts, and electrical components all need scheduled service. Skip it and you pay double in emergency repairs and unplanned downtime. A crusher sitting broken in your yard does not make money.

Insurance covers the asset, not the income. Equipment insurance runs 2% to 3% of the machine value annually. That protects against theft, fire, and catastrophic damage. It does not cover lost revenue when the machine is down for repairs.

Transport adds up fast. A compact crusher on a tag-along trailer costs $500 to $1,200 per move. A production machine on a lowboy runs $2,500 to $4,500 depending on distance. If you are mobilizing to a new site every two weeks, transport costs $13,000 to $60,000 per year.

What Crusher Rentals Cost

Rental rates vary by machine size, rental duration, and region. Here is what contractors pay in the current market.

What is included in a typical rental:

• The crusher, ready to run
• Delivery to your job site and pickup when you are done
• Basic orientation on operation and safety
• Wear parts for normal use during the rental period

What is not included:

• Fuel (you supply diesel)
• Feeding equipment (excavator or skid steer to load the hopper)
• Operator (most rentals are operated by your crew)
• Excessive wear or damage beyond normal use

Longer rentals drop the weekly rate. A four-week rental typically costs 75% to 85% of the straight weekly rate multiplied by four. If you know you need the machine for a month, negotiate the monthly rate upfront.

GCS connects contractors with rental crushers delivered to your site. One call gets you a machine sized to your job.

The Break-Even Math: When Buying Beats Renting

This is the number that matters. How many weeks per year of crusher use before ownership costs less than renting?

The table below compares annual costs at different utilization rates. Ownership costs include the machine payment (financed over 5 years at 7%), maintenance, insurance, and two transport mobilizations. Rental costs assume weekly rates with delivery included.

Compact Crusher: Annual Cost by Utilization

Production Crusher: Annual Cost by Utilization

The compact crusher break-even: 6 to 8 weeks per year. If you run a compact jaw crusher more than 8 weeks per year, buying is cheaper. At 12 weeks, ownership saves you $38,500 annually. At 20 weeks, the gap is $97,000.

The production crusher break-even: 14 to 16 weeks per year. The higher purchase price and maintenance costs push the crossover point further out. Below 14 weeks of annual use, renting wins. Above 16, buying starts saving serious money.

The nuance most calculators miss: ownership cost per week drops as utilization goes up, but maintenance costs increase with hours. The table above accounts for incremental maintenance tied to operating hours. A machine running 40 weeks a year needs jaw plates, hydraulic service, and general maintenance that a 4-week machine does not.

Hidden Costs Most Buyers Forget

The break-even math looks clean on paper. In practice, several costs sneak in that tip the scales.

Downtime kills your schedule. When a rental breaks down, the rental provider handles it. They bring a replacement or fix it on-site. When your machine breaks down, you wait for parts, schedule a mechanic, and lose days of production. One hydraulic pump failure can shut you down for two weeks.

Technology moves fast. Crusher technology improves every few years. New models run quieter, burn less fuel, and process faster. When you rent, you always get current equipment. When you own, you are locked into whatever you bought until you sell it and upgrade.

Capital is tied up. $156,000 to $450,000 in a crusher is $156,000 to $450,000 not available for other equipment, trucks, or working capital. For contractors who are growing, the opportunity cost of tying up capital in a crusher matters.

Resale value is uncertain. Crushers hold value better than most heavy equipment, but the used market fluctuates. A machine you paid $450,000 for might sell for $225,000 in five years or $270,000. You do not know until you list it. GCS handles used equipment sales for contractors looking to sell. The process is free to the seller.

When Renting Is the Right Call

Renting makes sense in these situations:

Project-based work. You land a 500-ton demo job, crush the concrete, and move on. No need to own a machine that sits idle between jobs. Rent it for the project, return it, and pay nothing when it is not working.

Testing the market. You are thinking about adding on-site crushing as a service line. Rent a crusher for a few jobs, learn the workflow, see if your customers want it, and then decide whether to buy.

Overflow capacity. You own a compact crusher and land a job that needs a production machine. Rent the larger unit for the big job and keep running your own machine on smaller work.

Seasonal work. Crushing season in northern states is 20 to 30 weeks. If you only need a machine during the warm months and your utilization falls below the break-even point, renting saves money.

When Buying Is the Right Call

Buying makes sense when:

You run a crusher more than 8 to 16 weeks per year. Once you cross the break-even threshold, every additional week of use saves you money compared to renting. A contractor running 30 weeks per year saves $150,000+ annually by owning.

You crush on every job. Demolition contractors, site-prep companies, and recycling operators who process concrete on most projects get the highest utilization. If the crusher is part of your daily workflow, own it.

You want to sell the aggregate. Recycled aggregate sells for $8 to $15 per ton in most markets. If you are producing material to sell, the crusher is a revenue-generating asset, not just a cost-saving tool. Ownership puts all that margin in your pocket. See how concrete recycling works for the full process.

You need the machine available on demand. Rental availability varies, especially during peak season. Owning means the machine is in your yard when you need it. No waiting, no scheduling around someone else’s calendar.

GCS Handles Both Sides

GCS sells new and used portable crushers for contractors who run them year-round. The Evortle CT-535 and CT-850 cover everything from residential tear-outs to large-scale commercial demo. GCS also helps line up financing to spread the cost over time.

For project-based work, GCS connects you with rental equipment delivered to your site. Pick the machine size, get a quote, and we coordinate delivery and pickup.

One call handles either option. 770-433-2670. Since 1973.

What Types of Crushers Are Available?

This guide focuses on jaw crushers because they handle the majority of concrete crushing work. But jaw crushers are not the only option. Impact crushers, cone crushers, and combination units each serve different applications. Our complete guide to crusher types covers the differences.

One important note: jaw crushers do not process asphalt. Asphalt requires an impact crusher with a different crushing action. If your project involves asphalt milling or recycling, that is a separate equipment conversation.

Cost Savings Beyond the Machine

Whether you rent or buy, portable crushing saves money in ways that go beyond the machine cost.

Eliminated tipping fees: $15 to $55 per ton. No trips to the landfill means no gate charges. On a 500-ton job at $35/ton, that is $17,500 you keep.

Eliminated trucking: $4 to $6 per loaded mile. No haul trips means no truck fuel, no driver time, no waiting at the scale house. A 500-ton job that would take 25 truckloads saves $2,500 to $3,750 in trucking costs alone. See the full hauling vs. crushing cost comparison.

Free base material. The crushed output is 3/4-inch minus aggregate suitable for road base, backfill, and pipe bedding. Instead of paying $12 to $18 per ton for delivered aggregate, you produce it on-site from material you already have.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a portable crusher cost to buy?

Compact portable jaw crushers (under 20,000 lbs) cost $150,000 to $220,000 new. Production machines (40,000 to 65,000 lbs) run $350,000 to $500,000+. Used models sell for 40% to 60% of new pricing depending on hours, condition, and age. GCS sells both new and used crushers and helps line up financing.

How many weeks per year before buying pays off?

For compact jaw crushers, the break-even point is 6 to 8 weeks of use per year. For production machines, it is 14 to 16 weeks. Below that, renting is cheaper. Above that, ownership saves more money each additional week you run the machine. The exact number depends on your purchase price, financing terms, and local rental rates.

Can I rent a crusher with an operator?

Some rental providers include an operator option at an additional daily rate, typically $400 to $600 per day on top of the equipment rental. Most contractors run the machine with their own crew. Jaw crushers are not complicated to operate. GCS can connect you with rental providers who offer operator-assisted packages if you need them.

What is included in a crusher rental?

A standard crusher rental includes the machine, delivery to your job site, pickup when you are done, and a basic operational orientation. You supply fuel, a feeding machine (excavator or skid steer), and an operator. Wear parts for normal use during the rental period are typically covered. Excessive wear or damage beyond normal use is your responsibility.

Can I try a rental before deciding to buy?

Yes. Contractors regularly rent a crusher for one or two jobs to test the workflow, measure throughput, and confirm the business case before committing to a purchase. This is the lowest-risk way to evaluate whether crushing fits your operation. Run the numbers from your actual job and compare them to the ownership math in this guide. When you are ready to buy, GCS carries new and used models and helps arrange financing.

The EPA estimates 600 million tons of C&D debris hit the waste stream every year in the United States. Concrete makes up the biggest share by weight. Most of it still goes to landfills at $25 to $80 per ton in disposal costs.

That concrete is not waste. It is raw material. A jaw crusher and a vibratory screener turn demolished concrete into recycled concrete aggregate (RCA): sized, graded base material that meets DOT spec for road construction, backfill, pipe bedding, and structural fill. The process works at fixed recycling plants and directly on the demo site with portable equipment.

This guide walks through every step of concrete recycling, from demolition to finished product. Costs, equipment, environmental numbers, and state DOT acceptance are all covered.

Step 1: Demolition and Collection

Concrete recycling starts the moment the excavator pulls its first slab. The material needs to be broken into feed-sized pieces before it hits a crusher.

Hydraulic breakers mounted on excavators crack slabs, footings, and walls into chunks small enough for the crusher jaw opening. For a compact jaw crusher like the Evortle CT-535, that means pieces under 20 inches across. For a production machine like the Evortle CT-850, the jaw accepts material up to 32 inches wide.

Sorting happens at the pile. Excavator operators separate concrete from wood, drywall, roofing, and other C&D waste streams. Clean concrete (no contaminants, no mixed debris) produces the best aggregate and commands the highest reuse value. Mixed loads with soil, wood, or trash require more screening passes and produce lower-grade output.

Stockpile the feed material. The excavator stages broken concrete in a feed pile near the crusher. On large jobs, this pile grows continuously as demolition progresses. On smaller jobs, the full teardown may happen before crushing starts.

Step 2: Rebar Removal and Pre-Processing

Reinforced concrete has steel rebar embedded in it. Every commercial foundation, bridge deck, and structural wall contains reinforcement. That steel needs to come out before the aggregate is usable.

Two methods handle rebar removal:

Overband magnets on jaw crushers pull rebar, tie wire, and steel fragments from the crushed material automatically during processing. The CT-850 includes the magnet as standard equipment; on the CT-535, it is an available option. The magnet sits above the discharge conveyor. As crushed material exits the jaw chamber, the magnet grabs ferrous metal and drops it into a separate scrap pile. This is the standard method on portable crushing operations.

Manual pre-processing involves cutting exposed rebar with a torch or hydraulic shears before material enters the crusher. This adds labor time but reduces wear on jaw plates. On jobs with heavy reinforcement (number 8 bar and above, or post-tensioned cable), pre-cutting rebar improves feed rate and extends jaw liner life.

The scrap steel has value. Ferrous scrap prices fluctuate, but rebar pulled from a concrete recycling operation typically sells for $150 to $250 per ton to local scrap yards. On a 500-ton concrete job with 2% steel content by weight, that is 10 tons of rebar worth $1,500 to $2,500 in scrap revenue.

Step 3: Primary Crushing

This is where concrete becomes aggregate.

The excavator or wheel loader feeds broken concrete into the crusher hopper. Jaw plates close on the material and crush it to the set CSS (closed-side setting). CSS controls the maximum particle size in the output. Set the CSS to 0.8 inch on the CT-535 for road base aggregate. The CT-850 produces 1-inch minus material at its tightest setting. Open the CSS to 1.5 inches on either machine for larger base material.

Jaw crushers handle concrete, rock, brick, block, and masonry. They do not process asphalt. Asphalt requires an impact crusher, which uses a different crushing action. See our crusher types guide for the full breakdown on jaw vs. impact vs. cone crushers.

Two equipment tiers cover most recycling volumes:

Not sure which model fits your project? Estimate your tonnage first using our demolition sizing guide.

Throughput depends on three things: material hardness, rebar density, and feed consistency. Clean unreinforced concrete crushes faster than heavily reinforced structural walls. Consistent feed sizes (no oversized chunks jamming the chamber) keep production steady. An experienced excavator operator who manages the feed rate makes a measurable difference in daily output.

Step 4: Screening and Grading

Raw crusher output is a mix of particle sizes from dust to the CSS maximum. For many applications (road base, backfill, haul roads), this crusher run material works as-is. The blend of fine and coarse particles interlocks and compacts well.

For spec work that requires specific gradations, screening separates the crusher output into sized products.

A vibratory screener takes the crusher output and sorts it across two screen decks into three size fractions. Common separations:

• 3/4-inch clean: Coarse aggregate for concrete mix, drainage layer, and structural applications
• 3/8-inch clean: Fine aggregate for concrete mix, bedding, and surface course
• Minus 3/8-inch fines: Fill material, base fines, and blending stock

Each fraction has a different market value and a different set of end uses. Screening adds a processing step but creates multiple saleable products from a single feed source.

Gradation matters for DOT work. State DOT specifications define exact sieve analysis requirements for base course, sub-base, and aggregate products. Running a crusher and screen together lets you hit those gradation targets on-site. Refer to our crushed stone sizes guide for standard size designations.

Step 5: Stockpiling and Quality Control

Crushed and screened material goes to stockpile areas organized by product size. Proper stockpiling prevents contamination between grades and keeps the product clean for end use.

Stockpile management basics:

• Separate each product grade with at least 10 feet of clearance
• Build conical piles, not flat windrows (less surface area exposed to rain and contamination)
• Keep stockpiles on clean, compacted ground or geotextile fabric
• Label each pile with size designation and test date

Testing and spec compliance matter when selling aggregate or using it on DOT projects. Standard tests include:

• Sieve analysis (ASTM C136): Confirms gradation meets target specification
• LA Abrasion (ASTM C131): Measures hardness and durability. RCA typically scores 30-45% loss (spec maximum is usually 50%)
• Soundness (ASTM C88): Tests resistance to freeze-thaw cycles
• Specific gravity and absorption (ASTM C127/C128): RCA absorbs more water than virgin aggregate (typically 4-8% vs. 1-3%). This affects concrete mix design ratios.

For base course and backfill applications, sieve analysis alone is usually sufficient. For concrete mix aggregate, the full test suite applies.

Fixed-Plant vs. Portable On-Site Recycling

Concrete recycling operations run two ways. The economics are different for each.

Fixed-Plant Recycling Yards

Permanent facilities with stationary crushers, multi-deck screens, stockpile areas, and scale houses. Contractors haul demolition concrete to the yard, pay a reduced tipping fee ($8 to $15 per ton vs. $25 to $55 at a C&D landfill), and the facility processes it into graded products for resale.

Pros: No equipment rental needed. Drive in, dump, leave. Works for small jobs where mobilizing a crusher does not make economic sense.

Cons: You still pay trucking and tipping fees. You lose the material value (the recycling yard keeps the aggregate). Wait times during peak hours cost you driver time. And you need a recycling yard within economical haul distance of your site.

Portable On-Site Crushing

A jaw crusher and vibratory screener come to your demo site. You process the concrete where it sits. No trucks leave the site. No tipping fees. The aggregate stays on your project.

Pros: Zero haul trips. Zero disposal fees. You keep the aggregate for backfill, base course, or resale. Works on any site with enough space for the crusher footprint.

Cons: Equipment rental cost. Need an excavator or loader to feed the crusher. Requires space for the crusher, screen, and stockpiles. Minimum volume of around 50 tons to break even vs. hauling.

For a full cost comparison, see our on-site crushing process and cost guide.

Recycled vs. Virgin Aggregate: Side-by-Side Comparison

The key difference: RCA absorbs more water and has slightly lower abrasion resistance. For base course, sub-base, and fill applications, these differences do not affect performance. For structural concrete mix, most specs limit RCA to 20-30% of total aggregate content.

State DOT Acceptance: Southeast States

Every state DOT has its own specifications for recycled concrete aggregate. Acceptance varies by application. Here is where SE states stand.

All six SE states accept RCA for base course work, which is the most common end use for recycled concrete on contractor jobsites. For structural concrete mix applications, state policies differ. Check the current edition of your state DOT standard specifications before bidding work that depends on RCA acceptance.

Environmental Impact of Concrete Recycling

Concrete recycling has measurable environmental benefits. These numbers matter for LEED certification, green building compliance, and increasingly for public bid scoring.

The real environmental win is eliminating truck trips. A 500-ton demo job hauled out at 20 tons per truck is 25 round trips. At an average 25-mile distance, that is 1,250 miles of truck travel eliminated. At roughly 6 miles per gallon for a loaded tri-axle, that is 208 gallons of diesel saved on trucking alone.

What Concrete Recycling Costs

The cost depends on whether you haul to a recycling facility or process on-site.

Hauling to a recycling yard:

• Tipping fee at the recycling facility: $8-$15/ton (lower than C&D landfill rates)
• Trucking: $5-$8/ton (varies by haul distance)
• Loading and staging: $2-$4/ton
• Total: $15-$27/ton

On-site portable crushing:

• Equipment rental (crusher): varies by model and market
• Equipment rental (vibratory screener, if needed): varies
• Fuel: varies by material hardness and hours run
• Operator (if not using existing crew): varies
• Total: $5-$12/ton (see full breakdown in our on-site crushing cost guide)

Value of the recycled product:

• RCA base material sells for $6-$15/ton at recycling yards
• Self-produced RCA replaces purchased virgin aggregate at $15-$30/ton
• Scrap rebar recovery: $150-$250/ton of steel

On a 300-ton commercial demo job in Atlanta, on-site crushing at $8/ton costs $2,400 to process. That same 300 tons would cost $12,000 to $24,000 to haul and dump at a C&D landfill. And you keep the aggregate on-site instead of buying $6,000 worth of new base material.

The break-even point for on-site crushing sits around 50 tons. Below that, hauling to a nearby recycling yard is usually cheaper. Above 50 tons, the economics tip sharply toward on-site processing. For detailed math at different job sizes, see our disposal cost comparison.

The Step-by-Step Process: Summary Table

LEED and Green Building Credits

Concrete recycling directly contributes to LEED certification under the Materials and Resources (MR) category. In LEED v4.1, the Construction and Demolition Waste Management credit rewards projects that divert C&D waste from landfills.

Two paths to credit:

• Path 1 (Diversion): Divert 50% of total C&D waste (by weight) for 1 point. Divert 75% for 2 points. On-site concrete recycling counts 100% toward diversion because the material never leaves the site.
• Path 2 (Reduction): Reduce total C&D waste generation below an established limit. Less common on demo projects but applicable on new construction.

For contractors bidding LEED-certified projects, on-site concrete recycling is one of the easiest MR credits to earn. The documentation is straightforward: weigh your feed material, weigh your output, document the reuse. No third-party recycling facility records needed when you process on-site.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is recycled concrete as strong as virgin aggregate?

For base course and sub-base, yes. RCA compacts and performs at equivalent levels to virgin crushed stone when properly graded. The California Bearing Ratio (CBR) for well-graded RCA typically exceeds 80%, which meets or exceeds most DOT base course specifications. For structural concrete mix, RCA is approved in limited percentages (typically 20-30% of total aggregate) because its higher water absorption affects the water-cement ratio.

Can recycled concrete go under a building?

Yes. Recycled concrete aggregate is approved for structural backfill and foundation sub-base in all six SE states. It compacts to 95%+ Modified Proctor density, which meets standard structural fill requirements. Many commercial and residential foundations sit on RCA base course. The key is proper gradation and compaction testing, the same requirements that apply to virgin aggregate.

What about rebar in the concrete?

Jaw crushers process rebar-reinforced concrete without issues. An overband magnet pulls steel from the crushed output automatically (standard on the CT-850, optional on the CT-535). The steel goes to a scrap pile and the aggregate exits clean. Heavy rebar (number 8 and above) slows the feed rate and increases jaw liner wear, but the machine handles it. Pre-cutting exposed rebar on heavily reinforced material reduces wear and improves throughput.

How much does recycled concrete cost?

Three price points depending on how you get it. Purchased from a recycling yard: $6 to $15 per ton. Self-produced on-site with portable crushing equipment: $5 to $12 per ton processing cost. Hauled to a recycling facility for disposal: $15 to $27 per ton all-in (tipping plus trucking). The cheapest option is producing it yourself on jobs over 50 tons. See our concrete disposal cost guide for the full math.

Do DOTs accept recycled concrete aggregate?

Yes. All six Southeast states (GA, FL, NC, SC, TN, AL) accept RCA for base course, sub-base, and pipe bedding. Acceptance for structural concrete mix aggregate varies by state and typically allows RCA at 20-30% of total aggregate content. Always check the current edition of your state DOT standard specifications. Acceptance criteria include sieve analysis, LA Abrasion, and soundness testing. See the state acceptance table above for specific spec references.

Can you sell recycled aggregate?

Yes. Contractors who produce more RCA than they need on a job sell the surplus to neighboring projects, landscaping suppliers, and aggregate yards. Market price for RCA ranges from $6 to $15 per ton, depending on gradation and local supply. Clean, well-graded 3/4-inch base material commands the highest price. This turns a disposal cost into a revenue stream. Some contractors run concrete recycling as a side business, processing rubble from other demo companies and selling the output.

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Skip the recycling yard. A portable jaw crusher and vibratory screener on your demo site turn concrete rubble into DOT-spec base material. No haul trips. No tipping fees. No waiting in line at the transfer station.

GrinderCrusherScreen connects contractors with portable crushing and screening equipment across the Southeast. Browse concrete crushers on our main site or check rental availability on the crusher rental page. Call 770-433-2670 to talk through your project. We have been matching contractors with the right equipment since 1973.

Crusher run is the workhorse of the aggregate industry. It sits under every road, parking lot, and building pad you have ever worked on. It is the single most ordered aggregate product at any quarry in the country. And most contractors use it without knowing exactly what it is or why it works.

This guide covers the specs, the science behind compaction, real costs, and how crusher run stacks up against alternatives.

What Crusher Run Actually Is

Crusher run is a blend of crushed stone and stone dust produced by running rock through a jaw crusher or cone crusher without screening out the fines. The output contains a continuous gradation from coarse aggregate (up to 1.5 inches) down to rock dust (particles smaller than the #200 sieve, about 0.003 inches).

That continuous gradation is the key. The fines fill the voids between the larger particles. When you compact it, the entire mass locks together into a dense, interlocking layer that resists movement under load.

Clean stone (like #57 or #67) does not do this. Clean stone has uniform particle sizes with air voids between them. It drains well, but it shifts under weight because nothing fills the gaps.

Crusher run fills the gaps. That is why it is the standard base material across every state DOT in the country.

Other names for the same product:

• ABC (Aggregate Base Course)
• GAB (Graded Aggregate Base)
• Dense Grade Aggregate (DGA)
• Road base
• Crush and run
• GDOT Graded Aggregate Base (Georgia spec)
• NCDOT ABC (North Carolina spec)

The name varies by state and by quarry. The product is the same: a crusher-produced blend of coarse and fine particles with a continuous gradation curve.

Crusher Run Gradation Specs

The gradation defines the product. Here is a typical AASHTO-based crusher run gradation, similar to what most Southeast state DOTs specify for base course material.

What these numbers mean: 100% of the material passes through a 1.5-inch sieve (nothing is larger than 1.5 inches). 35 to 60% passes through the #4 sieve (about 3/16 inch). And 5 to 15% passes through the #200 sieve (the finest rock dust).

That 5 to 15% passing the #200 sieve is critical. Too few fines and the material does not lock together under compaction. Too many fines and it holds water, pumps under traffic, and loses stability in wet weather.

Always check your project spec. Georgia DOT, Florida DOT, and North Carolina DOT each have their own crusher run gradation envelopes. They are similar but not identical. A batch that passes GDOT spec might fail NCDOT spec at the #40 sieve. Get the right spec sheet from your engineer or DOT district before you order.

How Crusher Run Is Made

Two methods. Same result.

Method 1: Quarry production. A quarry blasts or excavates rock, feeds it through a primary jaw crusher, and collects the output without screening. The unscreened product is crusher run. Some quarries run the output through a secondary cone crusher to break down oversize pieces, but they still skip the screening step. The fines stay in the product.

Method 2: On-site production from demolition concrete. A portable jaw crusher processes broken concrete, curb, sidewalk, or foundation material. The output contains crushed concrete pieces from 1.5 inches down to dust, with rebar removed by the magnet (standard on the CT-850, optional on the CT-535). This recycled crusher run performs identically to virgin material in most base course applications.

On-site production is where the economics get interesting. Instead of paying $25 to $42 per ton for quarry crusher run delivered to your site, you produce it from material already on the ground for $5 to $12 per ton all-in. Every ton of tipping fees you skip is another $35 to $55 saved.

Compaction: Why Crusher Run Works

Crusher run is a base material, not a surface material. It performs because it compacts.

Target compaction: 95% to 98% of Modified Proctor density. That is the standard most engineers and DOTs require for structural base courses. At 95%+ compaction, crusher run has a California Bearing Ratio (CBR) of 80 or higher. That means it supports heavy loads without deformation.

How to compact crusher run:

1. Spread in lifts. Never compact more than 4 to 6 inches at a time. For a 6-inch base, spread one 3-inch lift, compact it, then spread the second 3-inch lift and compact again. Two lifts give you better density than one thick pour. 2. Moisture matters. Crusher run compacts best at optimum moisture content, typically 6 to 10% by weight. Too dry and the particles will not slide into place. Too wet and the fines turn to mud and pump out under the roller. The surface should be damp, not muddy. A water truck helps on large pads. 3. Equipment selection. A vibratory plate compactor handles driveways and small pads. A vibratory smooth drum roller handles parking lots and road base. Minimum 3 to 5 passes across the full surface. More passes on clay subgrade. 4. Test the result. On commercial and DOT work, a nuclear density gauge confirms you hit 95%+ compaction. On residential work, the boot test works: walk across the compacted surface. If your boot leaves an impression deeper than 1/8 inch, it needs more passes.

Crusher run settles after compaction. Expect 15 to 25% settlement from loose volume to compacted volume. If you need 6 inches of compacted base, spread 7.5 to 8 inches of loose material. This settlement factor matters when you calculate how many tons to order. Crusher run weighs 2,500 to 2,900 lbs per cubic yard depending on moisture. See material weights per yard and truck payload limits to confirm your truck can handle the load.

Where Crusher Run Is Used

Crusher run goes under things. It is a structural base, not a finished surface. Here are the primary applications.

Road base and sub-base. Every paved road sits on a compacted aggregate base. Crusher run (labeled ABC or GAB on the plans) forms the structural layer between the subgrade soil and the asphalt or concrete surface. Typical thickness: 6 to 12 inches depending on traffic volume and soil conditions.

Parking lot base. Same application as road base. Most commercial parking lots use 6 to 8 inches of compacted crusher run under 2 to 4 inches of asphalt. Heavy-duty truck lots and loading areas need 10 to 12 inches.

Building pads. Compacted crusher run creates a stable platform for slab-on-grade construction. Common on warehouse, retail, and residential slab foundations. Typical depth: 4 to 8 inches.

Driveway base. The bottom layer of a proper gravel driveway is 4 to 6 inches of compacted crusher run, topped with 2 to 3 inches of #57 or #67 clean stone as the wearing surface.

Pipe bedding and backfill. Crusher run provides stable bedding for storm drain, sanitary sewer, and water line installations. It supports the pipe uniformly and resists settlement.

Temporary haul roads. Construction access roads take heavy truck traffic over soft ground. Six inches of crusher run on geotextile fabric creates a haul road that lasts through a full project without rutting out in the first rain.

Backfill behind retaining walls. Crusher run drains better than native soil and compacts against the wall for structural support. Some engineers spec clean stone behind walls instead, depending on drainage design.

Crusher Run Cost

Crusher run is typically the cheapest aggregate product at any quarry. It is unscreened, which means the quarry skips an entire processing step.

Volume pricing applies. Orders over 100 tons often run $2 to $4 per ton cheaper. Over 500 tons, negotiate a project rate. Quarries want the volume.

Delivery math: A tri-axle dump truck carries 18 to 22 tons per load. At $250 per delivery within 20 miles, that is about $12 to $14 per ton just for trucking. On a 500-ton parking lot base, delivery alone costs $6,000 to $7,000. This is why on-site production from demolition concrete changes the economics on demo and rebuild projects. Zero haul trips. Zero delivery charges.

Cost Comparison: Crusher Run vs. Alternatives

Recycled concrete performs on par with virgin crusher run in most base course applications. Multiple state DOTs (including Florida and North Carolina) have approved recycled concrete aggregate for use in base course under DOT spec, provided it meets gradation and contamination limits.

Crusher Run vs. Gravel: The Real Difference

Contractors use “gravel” loosely. It means different things depending on context. Here is the technical distinction.

Crusher run is mechanically crushed rock with angular, sharp-edged particles and a full range of fines. The angular faces interlock under compaction. It is an engineered product with a controlled gradation.

Gravel (pit run or bank run) is naturally weathered, rounded stone dug from a pit or riverbed. The particles are smooth. They roll against each other instead of interlocking. Gravel compacts less effectively and has unpredictable gradation because nature does not run a quality control program.

The practical difference: Crusher run stays put under load. Gravel moves. A loaded concrete truck will rut through 6 inches of pit run gravel on the first trip. Crusher run handles it without flinching.

For any application with structural requirements (roads, parking, building pads), specify crusher run, ABC, or GAB. Save the pit run gravel for rural driveways and non-structural fill.

Coverage: How Much Crusher Run Do You Need

Crusher run coverage depends on the compacted depth.

Remember the settlement factor. Loose crusher run settles 15 to 25% during compaction. To get 6 inches of compacted base, spread about 7.5 to 8 inches of loose material. Order tonnage based on the loose depth, not the compacted depth.

Quick formula: Compacted depth (inches) / 12 x area (sq ft) x 135 lbs per cu ft / 2,000 = tons. Then add 15 to 20% for settlement and waste.

For detailed tonnage calculations across multiple materials and job types, see the crushed stone calculator and tonnage guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

How thick should crusher run be for a driveway base?

Four to six inches of compacted crusher run is standard for residential driveways. Six inches handles regular passenger vehicle traffic on stable soil. If the subgrade is soft clay or organic material, go to 8 inches or add geotextile fabric underneath to prevent migration. Heavy vehicles (concrete trucks, moving trucks, RVs) need the full 6-inch base minimum. Always compact in two lifts: spread half the depth, compact, spread the other half, compact again.

Does crusher run need compacting?

Yes. Always. Uncompacted crusher run will shift, rut, and settle unevenly under traffic. Compaction is what activates the interlocking properties of the angular particles and fines. Use a vibratory plate compactor on driveways and small areas. Use a vibratory smooth drum roller on roads and parking lots. Target 95% Modified Proctor density. Minimum three passes across every section. Five passes on clay subgrade or soft soils. Moisture content should be 6 to 10% for best compaction. Damp, not soaked.

Crusher run vs gravel: what is the difference?

Crusher run is mechanically crushed rock with angular particles and a full range of fines from dust to 1.5 inches. It compacts into a solid, load-bearing mass. Gravel is naturally rounded stone from a pit or riverbed. It has smooth particles that roll against each other instead of interlocking. Crusher run stays locked under load. Gravel moves and ruts. For any structural base (roads, parking lots, building pads, driveway bases), crusher run is the correct choice. Gravel works for non-structural applications like rural roads, landscape fill, and temporary access where load-bearing performance is not critical.

Can you make crusher run from recycled concrete?

Yes. Every ton of demolition concrete your crew produces can become crusher run on-site. A portable jaw crusher with a CSS (closed side setting) in the 0.8-inch to 1.5-inch range produces a graded output from coarse aggregate down to fines, with rebar removed by the magnet (standard on the CT-850, optional on the CT-535). The result is recycled crusher run that compacts and performs like virgin quarry material. Multiple state DOTs accept recycled concrete as base course material when it meets gradation and contamination specs. On-site production costs $5 to $12 per ton versus $25 to $42 per ton for delivered quarry product. On a 500-ton parking lot base, that is $8,000 to $15,000 in savings. See how concrete recycling works for the full process.

What does a ton of crusher run cover?

One ton of crusher run covers approximately 80 to 100 square feet at 2 inches compacted depth, or 40 to 50 square feet at 4 inches compacted depth. The exact coverage depends on the specific gradation, moisture content, and how much the material settles during compaction. For planning: figure 1 ton per 100 square feet per 2 inches of compacted depth. A 1,000-square-foot driveway base at 6 inches compacted depth requires roughly 30 to 36 tons. Always order 10 to 15% extra to account for uneven subgrade, edge waste, and compaction settlement.

Produce Crusher Run On Your Jobsite

Stop hauling demo concrete to the landfill and buying virgin aggregate from the quarry. A portable jaw crusher turns the rubble pile into DOT-spec base material on the same site, the same day.

GrinderCrusherScreen has connected contractors with portable crushers since 1973. Tell us your tonnage and material type. We match you with the right equipment for the job.

Call 770-433-2670 or visit the concrete crusher rental page to request pricing.

Looking to buy? Browse concrete crushers for sale on GrinderCrusherScreen.com.

Wrong stone size on a job costs money. A driveway base poured with #4 stone shifts under load. A French drain packed with stone dust clogs in the first rain. A retaining wall backfilled with #57 instead of #1 lacks the mass to hold.

This guide covers every standard crushed stone grade from #1 wall stone down to stone dust. Size specs, common trade names, applications, and cost ranges. Print it. Keep it in your truck.

How Crushed Stone Is Graded

Crushed stone grades follow ASTM and AASHTO standards. Each grade number defines a specific size range based on sieve analysis. The number itself is arbitrary, but smaller numbers generally mean larger stone.

Two things define a grade:

1. Nominal size range. The smallest and largest particles in the mix. For example, #57 stone ranges from 1 inch down to #4 sieve (about 3/16 inch). 2. Gradation curve. The percentage of material that passes through each sieve size. This curve determines how the stone packs, drains, and locks together.

Clean stone (single-size grades like #57 or #67) has minimal fines. It drains fast and does not compact into a solid mass. Graded stone (like crusher run) contains a full range from coarse aggregate down to dust. It compacts tight and locks together under a vibratory roller.

That difference matters. Pick the wrong type and your base either shifts or your drainage fails.

Master Crushed Stone Grade Chart

This table covers the standard grades you will encounter on commercial and residential jobs across the Southeast. Size ranges follow ASTM C33 and AASHTO M43 specifications.

Note on crusher run: Crusher run is not a single-size grade. It is a blend of crushed aggregate and fines from dust up to 1.5 inches. It compacts into a solid, load-bearing base. See our complete crusher run guide for gradation specs and compaction rates.

Cost Per Ton by Grade

Crushed stone pricing varies by region, quarry distance, material type (limestone, granite, trap rock), and order volume. These ranges reflect 2024/2025 Southeast US pricing for pickup or short-haul delivery.

Delivery adds $5 to $20 per ton depending on distance. Most quarries quote a flat delivery fee per load (typically $150 to $350 for a tri-axle within 20 miles), which you divide by the tonnage on the truck.

Volume discounts apply. Orders over 100 tons often get $2 to $5 per ton knocked off. Over 500 tons, negotiate hard. The quarry wants your business.

Recycled crushed concrete runs 20 to 40% cheaper than virgin aggregate in most markets. A contractor producing crusher run from demolition concrete on-site pays $5 to $12 per ton all-in, versus $25 to $42 per ton delivered from a quarry. That math changes jobs.

What Stone Size for Your Application

This is the table to print. Match your application to the right grade.

How a Jaw Crusher Produces Specific Grades

A portable jaw crusher does not make one product. It makes whatever grade you set it to produce.

CSS controls output size. CSS stands for closed side setting. It is the gap between the jaw plates at their closest point. Set the CSS to its tightest setting (0.8 inch on the CT-535, 1 inch on the CT-850) and most material exits at that size minus. Open it to 2 inches, and you get a coarser product.

A jaw crusher set to a tight CSS produces material in the #57 to crusher run range. Open the CSS to 1.5 inches and you produce #3 to #4 drainage stone.

The catch: a jaw crusher produces a range, not a single grade. The output includes everything from dust to the CSS setting. If you need a clean, single-size product (pure #57 with no fines), you need to screen the crusher output.

That is where a vibratory screener comes in. Feed the jaw crusher output into a screener like the Screen USA CD410 and separate it into spec products in one pass. Two vibrating decks (4’x10′ each, punch plate top deck) split the material three ways: overs, mids, and fines discharge from separate conveyors. Clean #57 off one belt, stone dust off another, oversized material off the third. Three products from one feed. All sellable. All usable.

This combination (jaw crusher plus vibratory screener) is how portable operations produce DOT-spec aggregate on-site. Demo concrete goes in. Graded, screened aggregate comes out. No quarry trip. No tipping fees. The full process is covered in our on-site crushing walkthrough.

Important note: Jaw crushers process concrete, rock, brick, and block. They do NOT process asphalt. Asphalt recycling requires an impact crusher, which uses hammers or blow bars instead of jaw plates. Different machine, different process.

Understanding Rip Rap Sizes

Rip rap gets its own section because the sizing system is different from standard aggregate grades.

Rip rap is classified by weight or nominal diameter, not by ASTM grade number. State DOTs each have their own classification systems, but most follow a similar pattern:

Always check your local DOT spec. Georgia DOT uses a different rip rap classification than Tennessee DOT. The class names and size ranges do not translate one-to-one across state lines. Get the project spec sheet and match the gradation exactly.

Rip rap is quarried or blasted, not crushed. You cannot produce rip rap from a jaw crusher. If your project needs rip rap and crushed base material, those are two separate sourcing efforts.

How to Estimate Stone Tonnage

Before you order, figure out how much you need. The formula is straightforward.

Length (ft) x Width (ft) x Depth (ft) / 27 = cubic yards

Cubic yards x tons per cubic yard = tons needed

Tons per cubic yard varies by grade:

Example: A driveway base 60 ft long, 12 ft wide, 6 inches deep (0.5 ft). Volume: 60 x 12 x 0.5 / 27 = 13.3 cubic yards. At 1.4 tons per cubic yard for crusher run: 13.3 x 1.4 = 18.6 tons. Round up to 20 tons and order a full truck. Coming up short costs more than having a small surplus.

Hauling it yourself? Check how much a yard of each material weighs and what your truck can carry before you load. For a more detailed tonnage walkthrough with formulas for different job types, see our crushed stone calculator and tonnage guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most common crushed stone size?

#57 stone is the most widely used crushed stone grade in the United States. It works as concrete mix aggregate, driveway surface, pipe bedding, and general fill. Every quarry in every state stocks #57. If a spec just says “clean stone” or “3/4-inch stone” without a grade number, they almost always mean #57.

What size stone for driveways?

Use two layers. The base layer should be 4 to 6 inches of crusher run (also called ABC or dense grade aggregate), compacted with a plate compactor or vibratory roller. The surface layer should be 2 to 3 inches of #57 stone. The crusher run provides a stable, load-bearing base. The #57 provides a clean surface that sheds water and resists rutting. Total depth: 6 to 9 inches depending on soil conditions and traffic load. Soft clay soils need the deeper section.

What is the difference between #57 and #67 stone?

Size. #57 stone ranges from about 3/16 inch to 1 inch. #67 stone ranges from about 3/16 inch to 3/4 inch. The top size is the difference: 1 inch versus 3/4 inch. Both are clean stone with minimal fines. #67 is slightly finer, which makes it pack a little tighter and feel smoother underfoot. Use #57 for most structural and drainage applications. Use #67 for walkways, patios, and anywhere foot traffic matters.

What is crusher run?

Crusher run is a blend of crushed aggregate from dust up to about 1.5 inches. It contains coarse stone, fine stone, and rock dust in a continuous gradation. This blend compacts into a dense, interlocking mass that resists movement under load. It is the standard base material for roads, parking lots, building pads, and driveways across every state DOT in the country. Read our complete crusher run guide for gradation specs, compaction requirements, and cost comparisons.

Can you screen crusher run into spec stone?

Yes. A vibratory screener separates crusher run into clean, graded products. Feed crusher run into the hopper, and vibrating decks sort the material by size. A two-deck machine like the Screen USA CD410 does a 3-way split: fines (stone dust) off the bottom conveyor, mid-size aggregate (clean #57 or #67) off the middle, and oversized material off the top. Swap deck panels and you change the cut points to produce whatever grade the project requires. Portable vibratory screeners process material at rates that match the crusher output, keeping the production line moving. This is how contractors turn a pile of crusher run into three sellable products on-site.

What size is rip rap?

Rip rap ranges from 6 inches to over 48 inches depending on the class specification. Small rip rap (Class I, 6 to 12 inches) lines drainage ditches. Large armor stone (Class V+, 24 to 48 inches) protects seawalls and dam spillways. Every state DOT has its own classification system with different class names and size ranges. Always match the specific DOT or engineering spec for your project. See the rip rap size table above for typical ranges by class.

Produce Your Own Crushed Stone On-Site

Every ton of demolition concrete, broken curb, or old foundation your crew tears out can become graded aggregate on the same jobsite. A portable jaw crusher set to the right CSS produces road base, #57 stone, and structural fill without a single haul trip. Pair it with a vibratory screener and you make spec products.

The math works. On-site crushing costs $5 to $12 per ton. Quarry stone delivered costs $30 to $50 per ton. On a 200-ton job, that is $6,000 to $8,000 back in your pocket.

GrinderCrusherScreen has connected contractors with portable crushers and screening equipment since 1973. Call 770-433-2670 to get matched with equipment in your area.

Browse concrete crushers or vibratory screeners for sale on GrinderCrusherScreen.com. Need rental pricing? Visit the concrete crusher rental page or the screener rental page.